21 stunning Nat Geo pictures that will take your breath away

A newly-hatched octopus floating next to three unhatched octopuses.
Young and FreeA newly hatched octopus frees itself from its ruptured egg case at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Miami, Florida. Because octopuses lay their eggs over the course of a few months, the eggs hatch at different times. When hatched, a baby octopus is about the size of a pea. Octopuses are known for their intelligence and camouflaging capabilities.
Robert Sisson, National Geographic Image Collection
Photos curated byNational Geographic's Photography Department
Captions written byYasmine Maggio
Published May 29, 2026

Nomads end Ramadan with a happy dance. Windswept canyons glow in the sun. Dragonflies fill a starry night sky. Check out some of the pictures featured in our Photo of the Day.

A close-up view of mosquito near the eye of a bird with scarlet feathers.
Too Close for ComfortA Culex mosquito crawls towards the eye of an 'i'iwi, a type of songbird known as a honeycreeper. Many species of Hawaiian honeycreepers are considered critically endangered, not only due to climate change and habitat loss, but also because of the spread of avian malaria via mosquitoes. Foraging can also increase these birds' exposure to disease.
Chris Johns, Nat Geo Image Collection
A man with a goatee and a hat smiles with his teeth.
A Smile to RememberA local gazes over the patchwork of Dongchuan Red Land in Yunnan Province, China. Known by nicknames like "God's Magic Palette" and the "Colorful Kingdom," the landscape features miles of ridges and terraces made up of colorful vegetation and terrain like red soil, green barley, golden corn and potatoes, and white buckwheat flowers. The colorful fields attract backpackers and photographers alike, and remain a testament to the enduring relationship between local communities and the land they cultivate.
Catherine Hyland
A man holding an antenna up on an island.
Signaling the BirdsMarker Wadden has become a haven for countless birds and fish ever since the archipelago was created between 2016 and 2021 out of sand, clay, and sludge dredged from the bottom of Lake Markermeer in the Netherlands. The string of artificial islands are expected to help improve the water quality of the lake as well as serve as much-needed wildlife habitat. Researchers Jan van der Winden and Camilla Dreef want to know how birds use the islands as breeding, resting, and foraging grounds. Here, in this image from the June 2025 issue of NGM Netherlands, volunteer Maarten Hotting installs an antenna that picks up the signal from tagged birds that frequent the area, such as avocets, spoonbills, and terns.
Jasper Doest, National Geographic Society
A man in a purple shirt sits in front of towering pile of pink, red, orange, yellow, black fabrics, folded.
Towering TextilesThis pile of textiles in Zahedan, a city in Iran near its borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, is a normal sight at bazaars across the country. Iran's textile industry goes back centuries, and is known for producing colorful fabrics like silk, cashmere, velvet, and suede. Many of these textiles also feature embroidery styles that differ from region to region.
Matthieu Paley, National Geographic Image Collection
A mass of people lay on a bed of rocks high up in the mountains.
Communist ClimbIn this image taken in 1987, young Communists rest at the summit of Rysy—the highest peak in Poland, standing at 8,199 feet. Husband-and-wife photographers John Eastcott and Yva Momatiuk documented the climb that commemorated Vladimir Lenin's supposed ascent while in exile in 1913, just years before he founded the Soviet Union. Rysy is part of the High Tatras mountain range, which at the time was located on Poland's border with Czechoslovakia, a country under the Soviet sphere of influence until it was dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992. 
John Eastcott, Yva Momatiuk, National Geographic Image Collection
A boy in a light blue garment smiles and dances in the middle of a circle, surrounded by other people and camels.
Happy DanceTuareg nomads end the Ramadan fast with prayer and dancing in Timbuktu, Mali. The Tuaregs are a subset of the Berbers, an Indigenous ethnic group in North Africa, and have resided across the Sahara desert in Niger, Mali, Libya, Algeria, and Burkina Faso. They primarily practice Islam and, as National Geographic reported in a 2011 feature, the ethnic group is distinguished primarily by its common language, Tamashek, which is related to Berber tongues spoken in Algeria and Morocco.
Brent Stirton/Getty Images, National Geographic Image Collection
Coloful octopus kites flying in a field near a few people.
Octopi in the SkyKites fly high at the Open Buzludzha Festival in the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria. The festival began in 2021 as a campaign to preserve the decaying Buzludzha monument, a landmark that opened in 1981. The mountain the monument was built on is tied to key events in Bulgarian history, but has largely been neglected in the last three decades. However, the organizers of the festival see the future of the Buzludzha monument as a space for art, culture, and history, with the hopes of reusing it for educational and touristic purposes in the future.
Daniel Chatard
A black and white photo of a group of young boys playing on a hill, all of them wearing traditional Islamic caps.
One Sunny DayStudents of the Darul Uloom Riyaz-Us-Saliheen school enjoy their break on a sunny afternoon in Jammu and Kashmir, India, in this image from the 2026 Giga Photo Award competition. Due to years of conflict and heavy military control in Kashmir—an ongoing dispute over territory between India, Pakistan, and China—children are forced to study in difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. Islamic schools in the region, called madrassas, are not only meant for educational purposes, but they also offer food, shelter, and a means of routine and stability for students.
Saqib Ali
A view of pink and orange canyons illuminated in the sun.
Colorful CanyonsThe Lady of the Wind rock formation glows in the sunlight in Lower Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon is located on Navajo Indian Tribal Lands and is frequented by hikers and photographers alike who are eager to explore the slot canyon, which is a narrow gorge with high walls consisting of soft rock. This geological feature is a result of thousands of years of water erosion.
Derrick Kosea
An overhead view of a valley running through a mountain range.
Icelandic ViewPictured here is the Jökulgil valley, which leads through the Icelandic Mountains located in the central interior of the country. The area is an uninhabited volcanic desert, and the mountains consists mainly of Rhyolite, an igneous rock that contains minerals like iron and sulphur. Once these minerals are exposed to air, they oxidize, transforming into a variety of colors from grey and black to red and pink.
Hans Strand
A man dressed in white walks alongside tress and other plants in a greenhouse, with a cat walking in front of him.
Sustained by ShadeAhmed Ali Obaid Alhefeiti walks through his greenhouse at Wadi Dafta Plantation in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. Farmers across the Middle East are increasingly turning to greenhouses due to the extreme heat, water scarcity, and effects of climate change. The greenhouse market in the region is valued at $4.6 billion, supporting local production and reducing reliance on imports.
Vidhyaa Chandramohan
A woman stands in the doorway of room that features a cabinet of charging outlets.
Energy ParadoxA woman walks into a communal charging outlet in Ijebu Igbo, Nigeria, in this image from the 2026 Giga Photo Award competition. Not only are these charging outlets seen as a popular business venture, but they have also become a crucial piece of modern life in a region with unreliable power structures. The image is part of photographer Francis Ogyunyemi's project, "Energy Paradox," which documents energy accessibility in rural areas and how solar energy systems have becoming a saving grace in the area.
Francis Ogunyemi
Two girls sit on the top bunk of a jail cell bunk bed, and two others sit on the bottom.
Together in IsolationA group of friends watch a movie together in a cell at Penitentiary Unit 47 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in this image from the 2026 Giga Photo Award competition. The mix-gendered prison holds 10 wards for men and four for women. This photo is part of a series from photographer Magalí Druscovich titled "The weakest link: Women in the drug business," which explores the incarceration of women for drug-related crimes in Latin America. Druscovich attributes the increase in female prisoners over the last two decades to poor circumstances in the region, including violence, lack of education, and poverty. In recent years, the local province allowed inmates the use of cellphones to ease mounting isolation due to COVID-19.
Magalí Druscovich
A man stares ahead behind a large brown eagle.
Eyes for an EagleEagle hunter Rinat Mirlanov rests with his golden eagle above the Bokonbayevo village in Kyrgyzstan. Eagle hunting, known as berkutchi in Kyrgyz, is an ancient tradition in the country where hunters train eagles, vultures, and falcons to hunt small prey like foxes and hares. The practice requires years of trust and reliance built between the animal and the hunter. Although eagle hunting today is considered more of a hobby, it was originally used as a means of survival, providing both food and clothing to villagers.
Jason Siegel
Dragonflies and unidentified specks are illuminated in the night sky near a river.
Among the StarsDragonflies in the night sky near the Orinoco River in Puerto Carreño, Colombia. At more than 1,300 miles, the river is one of the longest in South America, running mostly through Venezuela but also partly through Colombia and into the Atlantic Ocean. Its ecosystem includes flooded grasslands, savannas, and tropical rainforests, and is home to a diverse group of wildlife—from flamingos and otters to thousands of different bird and fish species.
Juanita Escobar
A woman and a young boy each carry a solar panel on their head in the middle of a remote island.
Across the IslandA mother and son carry a solar panel across India's Ghoramara Island, preparing to install it at their home in this image from the 2026 Giga Photo Award competition. The remote island in the Sundarbans—an enormous mangrove forest that protects the India-Bangladesh coast—lacks a conventional electricity grid. After Super Cyclone Yaas hit the region in 2021, flooding and high tides cut off power to the island. Since then, solar panels have become common in order for families to keep phones charged and lights on during emergencies.
Supratim Bhattacharjee
A crocodile underwater with it's mouth open.
Claiming Crocodile TerritoryThe crocodiles that reside in Banco Chinchorro, Mexico, were originally thought to be American crocodiles. However, a study published in June 2025 identified them as a unique, unnamed new species, alongside another unnamed crocodile species found on the island of Cozumel, Mexico. The total number of crocodiles of both new species is around a thousand, all of which live in small, isolated areas. Environmentalists are working to protect their habitats in order to further preserve the species.
Amanda Cotton
A woman wearing blue stands in front of a chalkboard in a green classroom.
A Completely Normal DayOlena Mykhailivna Loboda, a mathematics teacher, teaches remotely from her empty classroom at School No. 2 in Chernihiv, Ukraine, in this image from the 2026 Giga Photo Award competition. Due to the ongoing war, adjusting to remote learning when an air-raid alert sounds has become the norm. "In general, I’m more interested in how people live through war than in how they die in it," photographer Antti Yrjönen told National Geographic. This is the fourth academic year of the war in Ukraine, and according to UNICEF, 4.6 million children in Ukraine face disruptions to education. 
Antti Yrjönen
A woman stands in a doorway with her toddler son strapped to her side.
A Child's BondGiamum Yame and her two-year-old son live in the small village of Pochung in Arunachal Pradesh State, India. The village's population is 73, according to census data from 2011. Arunachal Pradesh State, which translates to "Land of the Rising Sun," contains many distinct ethnic groups, and the region has been part of a sovereignty dispute between India and China since 1914.
Lynn Johnson, Nat Geo Image Collection
A woman wearing a hijab holds her phone up to a young girl blowing bubbles in a grassy area, while two other women with hijabs frolick behind her.
Frozen in TimeA woman takes a picture of a young girl in mountainous Adjara, one of the most distinct regions in Georgia. The villagers have maintained old ways of life for ages—raising cattle and maintaining close-knit communities. But the mountainous region's isolation from the rest of the country has made it harder for to obtain an education, proper healthcare, and other basic living conditions. Today, many of the villages have been abandoned as inhabitants have migrated to other regions of Georgia as well as abroad—especially Turkey, where the men take on seasonal jobs for additional income.
Natela Grigalashvili
Madison Tessler and Walker Guinnee curated this selection of images for Photo of the Day, a daily look at photography from National Geographic's archives. Yasmine Maggio wrote and researched the captions. Check out today's photo here.