Wild portraits and magical landscapes: Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2022 – in pictures

The Nature TTL Photographer of the Year winner has been chosen from more than 8,000 images from all over the world. From a scarred lion getting its close-up to a fish with a mouthful, entrants competed to secure category wins in wild portraits, animal behaviour, camera traps, underwater, the night sky, small world, landscapes, urban wildlife and under-16, with the overall winner chosen from the category wins

Main image: A snow leopard scans for prey across the jagged peaks of the Ladakh mountain range in India. This image was captured during a three-year DSLR camera trap project in the Indian Himalayas. Photograph: Sascha Fonseca

  • Winner, overall and animal behaviour

    ‘We had received word about a serval hunting birds along the shore of Lake Ndutu in Tanzania so we raced over to see. Upon arrival, we quickly realised that it was in fact a caracal and not a serval, and it was hunting flamingos that were feeding in the shallows. Within a minute of arrival, the caracal started stalking and eventually was successful at hunting one of the beautiful but unlucky birds.’
    A caracal, which is a medium-sized wild cat with pointy ears, walks along a muddy bank carrying a bloodied flamingo in its jaws

  • Runner-up, animal behaviour

    ‘After wallowing in the mud, this majestic African elephant was walking towards our safari vehicle in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.’
    A black and white image of male African elephant walking towards the camera across a grassy plain. It has picked up some dust in its trunk and is blowing it up into the air covering part of its head

  • Winner, urban wildlife

    ‘During the daytime this place on the outskirts is totally crowded by people going about their daily business. But at night, it belongs to the animals that come out to play under the streetlights.’
    A rabbit or hare crosses an empty street at night. The street is dark except for the orange glow from a street light

  • Winner, under-16

    ‘Malabar parakeets are wonderful creatures – they are also called blue-winged parakeets. They usually flock together and are seen in huge numbers ... It was my privilege to shoot this image from a bird hide. These two are fighting over a stump that had paddy grains as its feed.’
    Two parakeets are perched on the edge of a tree stump. The parakeets are mostly green in colour with grey upper bodies that is broken up by a black and bright blue ring around their necks, and they have bright red beaks. One bird has its beak open and wings extended while the other bird leans towards it

  • Runner-up, underwater

    ‘A male eastern gobbleguts carrying eggs in its mouth. When the female is ready to make the transfer, the male opens his mouth near her cloaca orifice, as she pushes the eggs out in a cone-like manner.’
    A front-on image of a reddish-grey fish with its mouth wide open inside which are many small orange spherical eggs

  • Winner, landscapes

    ‘A thunderstorm passes over a sunflower which, against the odds, has managed to survive on a rubbish dump in the semi-arid Karoo region of South Africa.’
    A lone sunflower with bright yellow petals stands in a dry grassy area surrounded by piles of glass bottles and other rubbish. There are some low shrubs behind it and the sky is dark grey and cloudy with a bolt of lightning dropping down in the background

  • Winner, underwater

    ‘A pink whipray splitting a school of bannerfish, shot against the setting sun on a late afternoon at the famous dive site “Tuna Factory” that is located close to Malé, the capital of the Maldives.’
    A grey ray with a white underside swims towards the camera through a school of black, white and yellow striped fish. The sun is shining through the water directly above the ray and the surrounding ocean appears dark blue

  • Runner-up, the night sky

    ‘This shot is a mixture of magical elements: the light of the moon whose incidence at the right angle generated a magnificent rainbow; the beautiful northern lights shot just above the lunar rainbow; finally Godafoss, a spectacular waterfall in Iceland.’
    The image is taken from the edge of a waterfall which curves around, lined by snow-covered rick. A rainbow appears to be rising from the water at the bottom of the waterfall and into the dark blue sky. A streak of bright green light is in the shape of a wave across the sky

  • Winner, the night sky

    ‘This photo was taken during a trip to Kosciuszko, the highest point in Australia. It is also one of the best places to capture the Milky Way, in part thanks to the dark skies.’
    A brick alpine hut is partially covered in snow on the top of a mountain. The night sky above the hut is dotted with millions of stars and what look like clouds making up the Milky Way

  • Winner, small world

    ‘I managed to photograph this moth in summer at dusk. To keep track of the flight, I used an LED headlight, and I lit the moth with a flash. I made the twilight mood with multi-exposure inside the camera.’
    A moth is lit up by an artificial light at night as it flies through the darkness in front of some trees

  • Winner, camera traps

    ‘A large grizzly bear passes in front of my camera trap. In the Yukon, Canada, a unique phenomenon happens every year – the bears will freeze their fur and stay out until the month of December, despite the temperature reaching as low as -30C.’
    A large brown bear points its snout towards the camera. It is walking across snow-covered grass against a black background. The bear has some snow or water that has frozen on its fur

  • Winner, wild portraits

    ‘When a huge lion looks you right in the eyes, you immediately forget that you are sitting safely in the car. Instinctively, you cower and slowly retreat deeper inside the car so as not to provoke a predator.’
    A close-up image of a lion's face looks directly into the camera. The lion is wedged between other lions and you can see cut marks on its nose

  • Runner-up, urban wildlife

    ‘A city of glow worms are populating this old train station, providing beautiful lights on rainy days.’
    A view straight down an old railway line leading into a tunnel. The tunnel is lit up in a blue glow. At the entrance to the tunnel are trees, greenery and a waterfall
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