Rath Yatra Festival, Bangladesh

Photograph by Md Rafayat Haque Khan , Your Shot

Enthusiastic devotees take part in a colorful Rath Yatra procession in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. Also known as the Festival of Chariots, the Hindu celebration honors a mid-summer chariot journey made by Lord Jagannath.

Photographing in his hometown, Your Shot contributor Md Rafayat Haque Khan wanted to capture the essence of the festival in a single frame. To get this shot, Khan went to the top of a three-story building as devotees pulling raths, or holy carts, arrived in time for an afternoon prayer. "I got a vantage point for capturing this awesome moment," Khan says. "It seemed to me I was seeing a wave of devoted souls coming row by row to get blessings from the Jagannath."

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Rath Yatra Festival, Bangladesh

Photograph by Md Rafayat Haque Khan , Your Shot

Enthusiastic devotees take part in a colorful Rath Yatra procession in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. Also known as the Festival of Chariots, the Hindu celebration honors a mid-summer chariot journey made by Lord Jagannath.

Photographing in his hometown, Your Shot contributor Md Rafayat Haque Khan wanted to capture the essence of the festival in a single frame. To get this shot, Khan went to the top of a three-story building as devotees pulling raths, or holy carts, arrived in time for an afternoon prayer. "I got a vantage point for capturing this awesome moment," Khan says. "It seemed to me I was seeing a wave of devoted souls coming row by row to get blessings from the Jagannath."

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Lightning, Bay of Bengal

Photograph by Sandip Dey , Your Shot

After an evening rain in Pondicherry, India, lightning continued to flash over the Bay of Bengal, here rimmed with the orange glow of nearby streetlights. Sandip Dey, a member of our photo community, wanted to make a dreamlike frame with the rough sea smoothed out to better showcase the drama of the sky. "I set the camera at f/16 and shot a few long exposure frames at 16mm," Dey writes. "Since I was making a single-exposure shot, I had to balance between the manual exposure duration and the amount of lightning that I wanted."

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Tsukuba City, Japan

Photograph by Akira Takaue , Your Shot

Your Shot contributor Akira Takaue was after a cityscape in Tsukuba when he came across this building in what he calls an uncommon suburban town. Located about 37 miles from Tokyo, it's known as Science City for its various national research facilities and structurally challenging architectural features. "I found this [building] with a beautiful exterior and regularly placed windows standing beside a crosswalk under the soft sunlight," Takaue says. "I aimed to capture only this wall combined with the pedestrian signal in a perfect flat-plane image without any optical distortions."

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Canvasback Ducks, Maryland

Photograph by Paul Bramble , Your Shot

A private tidal pond in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay hosts thousands of overwintering canvasback ducks, seen here gathered at dawn. "Canvasback ducks are my favorite bird to pursue, both with my camera and as a waterfowl hunter," says Paul Bramble, a member of National Geographic's Your Shot community. "Witnessing so many at one spot is incredible."

For this shot, Bramble employed a remote to allow the birds to move close enough to give a packed appearance. "As it was early morning, I set the camera to aperture priority to account for the changing light," he says. "Luck provided the shutter speed of 1/15th and the painterly blur of birds in the foreground."

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Canvasback Ducks, Maryland

Photograph by Paul Bramble , Your Shot

A private tidal pond in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay hosts thousands of overwintering canvasback ducks, seen here gathered at dawn. "Canvasback ducks are my favorite bird to pursue, both with my camera and as a waterfowl hunter," says Paul Bramble, a member of National Geographic's Your Shot community. "Witnessing so many at one spot is incredible."

For this shot, Bramble employed a remote to allow the birds to move close enough to give a packed appearance. "As it was early morning, I set the camera to aperture priority to account for the changing light," he says. "Luck provided the shutter speed of 1/15th and the painterly blur of birds in the foreground."

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Bubbles, Cartagena

Photograph by Massimo Rumi , Your Shot

On Sundays during Mes de la Cometas, or Kite Month, the sky over Cartagena, Colombia, fills with colorful kites moving in every direction. "I knew this was a great opportunity for photography," says Your Shot contributor Massimo Rumi, who on arriving at a park found that the many colors, families, and kids presented a larger challenge than expected. "Flying a kite is a family sport in Cartagena, and I wanted to capture a family moment of relaxation and fun," he says.

Having come across a dog chasing soap bubbles, Rumi first tried to focus on the animal, then suddenly zoomed out. "I wanted to capture the whole family, and the bubbles unexpectedly helped frame the people in such a perfect way."

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Train, Bangladesh

Photograph by Junaid Ahmed , Your Shot

For Your Shot contributor Junaid Ahmed, the rapid growth of Dhaka, Bangladesh, has lacked proper planning. "Traffic jams are a regular routine here, so lots of people take trains to avoid this situation, and the trains are becoming overcrowded," Ahmed says. It was this overcrowding and a desire to depict the reality of the situation that inspired his shot of passengers at the Kamalapur Railway Station. "I was taking several shots, but I was waiting for an interesting moment, and suddenly this little child looked at me."

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Owl, Florida

Photograph by Barbara Motter , Your Shot

Having never seen a sleeping owl, Barbara Motter was surprised to find delicate feathers covering the eyelid of a resting resident of the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Preserve in western Florida. "It's a wonderful nature preserve that houses a variety of owls," says Motter, a member of National Geographic's Your Shot photo community. "Because they are nocturnal, the owls are usually asleep during the day, and visitors just pass by the enclosure with little more than a glance. What treasures we find when we take the time to look closely at nature."

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Owl, Florida

Photograph by Barbara Motter , Your Shot

Having never seen a sleeping owl, Barbara Motter was surprised to find delicate feathers covering the eyelid of a resting resident of the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Preserve in western Florida. "It's a wonderful nature preserve that houses a variety of owls," says Motter, a member of National Geographic's Your Shot photo community. "Because they are nocturnal, the owls are usually asleep during the day, and visitors just pass by the enclosure with little more than a glance. What treasures we find when we take the time to look closely at nature."

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Basketball Court, Hong Kong

Photograph by Brian Yen , Your Shot

Your Shot contributor Brian Yen calls it his "weekly photography fix": the uninterrupted hour and a half after he drops his daughter off at her ballet lesson, which he spends shooting pictures in the school's neighborhood. "I had encountered this scene in the past, but always with many players on the court," he says of this image, shot from a pedestrian overpass above Garden Road in Hong Kong. "But this time, near the end of my walk, I saw this lone player shooting hoops. The contrast with the Friday evening rush hour traffic was immediately obvious."

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Birdsville Race Track, Australia

Photograph by Rowan Bestmann , Your Shot

Once a year, thousands of people descend on the remote town of Birdsville, Australia, for a three-day horse racing event in western Queensland's Diamantina Shire. Commissioned to document the Shire a 36,000-square-mile area on the edge of the Simpson Desert Your Shot contributor Rowan Bestmann was covering the event from a light plane when he came across this view of parked 4x4s. "The owners of these vehicles had driven from all over Australia," he says. "During the races, the town's two service stations sell more than 160,000 liters [42,000 gallons] of diesel fuel."

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Garden Lizard, India

Photograph by Arpan Parui , Your Shot

No more than five inches long, a baby garden lizard of the Calotes genus rests on a cactus in Your Shot contributor Arpan Parui's backyard. "I first saw it on a winter morning sitting on a brick," Parui says. "Its dreamy eyes, basking in the pleasures of its surroundings, caught my attention."

A researcher of ant ecology, Parui had been on an early-morning prowl for the perfect insect shot when he spotted the lizard. "Wildlife is my passion I have spent more than three years working in the forest, and yet every day presents something new and unique."

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Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand

Photograph by Brad Grove , Your Shot

Trees stand like guardians at the top of Lake Wakatipu on New Zealand's South Island. Says Brad Grove, a member of our Your Shot community: "I first discovered these trees by the Glenorchy jetty back in April 2011 and had never really been happy with my efforts to shoot them." Grove achieved this HDR image in June 2012, after approaching the trees from a different direction. "It was minus 4 [degrees Celsius] on a very cold morning, and the sun had just broken the horizon behind me," he says. "The composition fell into place, and I took seven exposures hoping I had enough data to produce the image I could see in my head."

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Spiral Staircase, Tokyo

Photograph by Tomoyasu Chida , Your Shot

When Tomoyasu Chida was shooting photos near the Koenji shrine in Tokyo, the Your Shot contributor got a surprise: the sudden appearance of a woman's face near the top of a spiral staircase. "At that moment, it seemed like she was part of the polka dots," Chida says.

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Swan Feather, Moscow

Photograph by Veronika Ko , Your Shot

On an autumn day in Moscow, Your Shot contributor Veronika Ko waited beside a lake for swans to swim close enough to photograph but they never did. She had decided to leave when she spotted some feathers floating toward her. "It was obviously the swans' gift for my patience," she says. Noticing the water's movement and the autumn trees reflected on its surface, she prepared a 200mm lens and waited for the biggest feather to approach.

Ko emphasizes the importance of taking advantage of the unexpected, in this case to create a unique shot and share the beauty of simple things. "To me it's not just a feather; it's a beautiful part of our life, of our surroundings, something that could bring us smiles and happiness just by watching it."

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Railway Bridge, Japan

Photograph by Teruo Araya , Your Shot

On an early summer morning, Teruo Araya captured this image of a train on Japan Rail's Tadami line as it passed through Fukushima Prefecture. "The haze generated by the river created a fantasy world," as the train crossed the railway bridge, Araya says. For the Your Shot contributor, the sight expressed the recovery of the people of Fukushima, defying the earthquake and nuclear accident of March 2011. "But it is like an endless journey."

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Sheep Encounter, China

Photograph by Steven Chou , Your Shot

Steven Chou was on his way back to Lhasa from Kashgar in remote western China "a long, tough way" when he encountered "a big gold-pit truck preparing to go back to Lhasa too." Chou, a member of National Geographic's Your Shot photo community, got a lift from the truck's Tibetan driver. He describes this shot as one glimpse from his seven-day journey on board.

"I could feel the earth shaking" as the sheep ran, he says. "At that moment I was completely shocked They just ran across our [path] without any fear, and at that time my mind was empty but for the word 'free.'"

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Kangaroos, Australia

Photograph by Graeme Ricketts , Your Shot

Kangaroos retreat to the leeward side of a tree line to escape a late-afternoon shower on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. National Geographic Your Shot contributor Graeme Ricketts captured the photo "from the comfort of our front veranda, which has a fantastic view of the Eleanor River Valley." When the sky opened up, Ricketts "was in awe of the wonderful light and contrasts that were created by the rain that descended upon the valley. The local wild kangaroos were forced to take shelter, and I just had to capture it." The challenge, Ricketts writes, was capturing all of the scene's elements. "Too fast a shutter speed would have frozen the rain and too slow would have washed the scene out."

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Winter Drive, Canada

Photograph by Sebastien Lefebvre , Your Shot

Sebastien Lefebvre, a member of our Your Shot community, encountered difficult winter driving conditions while in search of snowy owls near Ottawa, Canada. "Heavy winds, blowing snow, and freezing temperatures proved very challenging for wildlife photography," he writes. "By constantly swapping batteries from inside my winter jacket in order to keep them warm, I was able to prevent the camera from locking up." Lefebvre didn't find any snowy owls that day but "still managed to come home with one decent shot."

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Copper Plant, Congo

Photograph by Loes Schalekamp , Your Shot

"The sun, like a magic wand, turned everything into copper," writes Your Shot contributor Loes Schalekamp, who worked as a safety manager at this copper plant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's mineral-rich Katanga Province, known as the Copper Belt.

"In this plant, copper is plated using blanks suspended in an acid-copper solution in electrowinning cells," Schalekamp writes. "In daylight the plant looks bland and gray But I noticed, while doing my rounds, that as the sun sets it shines for just a few moments under the roof, seemingly turning everything to copper. It took a few goes to get all the elements together the light, the people, and the blanks above the cells."

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Jal Mahal, India

Photograph by Mahesh Balasubramanian , Your Shot

At Jal Mahal in Jaipur, India, a flock of pigeons burst into the sky just as Mahesh Balasubramanian was contemplating the landscape's misty backdrop. "It was an early morning, and I was roaming around Jal Mahal," says the Your Shot contributor. "I was in the right position to [capture] those floating structures' reflections, with one nearby and another a bit far, balancing the frame. The water was very still."

The pigeons coming out of Jal Mahal surprised Balasubramanian, but "that is what made this shot for me."

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Festival Dancers, India

Photograph by Priyanka Telang , Your Shot

A cloud of marigold, rose, and jasmine petals envelops raas leela dancers during a Holi Festival performance in Vrindavan, India. According to Your Shot contributor Priyanka Telang, performers and organizers work hard to preserve the ancient dance, "a dramatic presentation of the events of Lord Krishna's childhood days."

In the scene pictured, Lord Krishna celebrates Holi with friends, mostly female. "All the roles are played by male artists dressed up in female costumes," writes Telang. "Being a part of it and watching it live is one of the most wonderful and spiritual experiences you are spellbound and everything in the world around you disappears "

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Cheetahs and Tourists, Kenya

Photograph by Yanai Bonneh , Your Shot

When Yanai Bonneh saw a pair of cheetahs jump onto the top of a tourist vehicle, the Your Shot contributor "didn't think too much, only realized it was an unusual moment, pulled out my camera, and started clicking." For Bonneh, it was "the opportunity of a lifetime" during a visit to Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve. "Later in the evening, I stopped on this photo, and what came out was only a big 'wow.'"

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Snowy Evening, Tokyo

Photograph by Danilo Dungo , Your Shot

"The snow season in Japan is long but Tokyo receives only small amounts of snow," says Danilo Dungo, a member of our Your Shot community. Dungo captured this shot in Shibuya, a busy commercial district known for the crowds of crisscrossing pedestrians that stream over a large intersection. "My hand was numb and soaking wet," says Dungo, who tried "to capture the expressions of the people passing me by."

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Airplane Shadow, California

Photograph by Avani Agarwal , Your Shot

"It was a clear and beautiful day as I took off from San Francisco Airport heading eastbound," says Your Shot contributor Avani Agarwal, who spotted the plane's shadow while taking in the city from a window seat. "At first I thought it was another airplane, or some figment of my imagination," Agarwal says, "but I quickly realized it was my airplane's shadow and furiously grabbed for my camera," an iPhone.

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Boat Hull, Czech Republic

Photograph by George Hodan , Your Shot

Your Shot contributor George Hodan says he was in the right place at the right time for this shot of a mud-covered boat sitting at the bottom of a drained dam in the Czech Republic. "I was on holiday in Brno," he says. "It was such an interesting view that I didn't hesitate, and I took the shot immediately."

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Blue Ghost Fireflies, North Carolina

Photograph by Spencer Black , Your Shot

A forest floor in North Carolina is traced with the movement of blue ghost fireflies in this time-lapse image by Your Shot contributor Spencer Black, who says the element of surprise compels him toward long-exposure photography.

"These fireflies are unique because their blink pattern is much longer than the common firefly and they hover about a foot off the ground," says Black. "Witnessing them by the thousands, floating above the forest floor in complete darkness, is truly an incredible experience."

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Swimmers, Kumta

Photograph by Dinesh Hegde ,Your Shot

"Nonstop rain for a week left all the small lakes filled with water in Kumta," says Your Shot contributor Dinesh Hegde of an early monsoon in the coastal Indian town. "When the sun came out unexpectedly, one could see the people running around to finish off their last week's pending work with a mixture of happiness and [haste]."

Hegde came across the swimming children while riding his bike. "The gorgeous monsoon clouds and the Western Ghats formed a perfect backdrop for their cheerful activity," Hegde says. And the kids were happy to get the perfect response to their celebrations "me photographing them."

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Dolphins, Red Sea

Photograph by Natalia Pryanishnikova , Your Shot

"Wild dolphins normally go hunting in deeper waters at sunset, but they have to surface to catch a breath of air," says Your Shot contributor Natalia Pryanishnikova, who took this photo during the Dolphin Watch project, a scientific study of dolphins in the Red Sea.

After watching the pod of dolphins all day, documenting their behavior and travel routes, Pryanishnikova saw that they had started hunting and waited close to the surface for interesting silhouette opportunities. "I was lucky to meet them exactly as they surfaced in the light of the setting sun," she says.

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Balloon Ride, Myanmar

Photograph by Dima Chatrov , Your Shot

For Your Shot contributor Dima Chatrov, seeing Bagan, Myanmar, from a hot air balloon is a must for any traveler to the ancient city. "The location is ideal for shooting: the bend of the river, flat valley and mountains on the horizon," Chatrov says. "But the main thing [is] there are thousands and thousands of temples, pagodas, and stupas."

According to Chatrov, the balloon flight lasts from 40 minutes to an hour. "The first sunbeam breaks through the haze on the east and colors the valley in golden tones. A few more seconds and thousands of light blades pierce the fog. It is so beautiful and unusual that it seems like you are no longer in the 21st century, but somewhere in the middle of the 19th, flying like the heroes of Jules Verne, to open the unknown "

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Caf in Sorrento, Italy

Photograph by Adelina Iliev , Your Shot

A chapel's mural serves as "a splendid backdrop" for two men chatting at a caf in the southern Italian city of Sorrento. "Luckily for me they were just as happy to be in my photo," says National Geographic Your Shot contributor Adelina Iliev, an architect turned photographer. "Architecture is a big theme for me," Iliev says. "It was a quick, intuitive snap."

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Wave Breaking, Oahu

Photograph by Freddy Booth , Your Shot

To capture this photograph, Your Shot contributor Freddy Booth stood knee-deep in the water during sunrise on the northeast side of Oahu. "I started off capturing images from inside the barrel of the wave," Booth writes, "but once I saw how amazing the sunrise became, I switched to trying to get this angle."

Booth knew time was ticking on the lighting, but finally a wave came in just right. "This image taught me that my ego is not my amigo, and I should never pass up the little things in life."

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