Nature and wildlife at its most beautiful: Photographs from around the world reveal our planet at its very best

From wonderful waterfalls to figures trudging through the snow this stunning collection of pictures show the beauty and ferocity of nature.
They were all finalists in the Great Outdoors photography competition, which was won with a shot of a camel herder entitled Homebound by Indian Times photographer Sudipto Das, from West Bengal.
It shows a camel seller leaving a fairground with unsold camels after the world's biggest camel fair is over at Pushkar in Rajasthan. Camel sellers from remote villages in Rajasthan gather at the fairground yearly to trade camels which continues for seven day.
Second prize went to Brit mountain guide Andy Teasdale, from Gwynedd, north-west Wales, for his picture of four skiers battling through the snow on Gran Paradiso in the Italian Alps.

And third prize went to another Brit, model turned photographer Paul Reiffer from Dorset for his shot of Horse Shoe Bend in Page, Arizona.
The competition was organized by the The Society of Nature and Wildlife Photographers, an association for photographers worldwide, based in Wales.
Spokesman Phil Jones said: 'The theme of this competition was the ‘Great Outdoors’ and photographers were encouraged to let their creative juices flourish. 

Images that depict this vibrant topic were welcome to be submitted, and could include landscapes, seascapes, panoramas, underwater or whatever your creativity captures in this all-embracing photographic competition. 'In the end we had 802 images submitted and they were judged by a panel at the Society.'
Shots that made the final from the UK include a plane coming in to land at City Airport in London and a lighthouse at Whitley Bay on Tyneside.

Other finalist Andreas Ettl, from Germany, captured a rainbow next to Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall in southern Iceland.
Mr Jones added: 'The competition produced a load of quality images.
'We have been blown away by the variety and the fact that so many pictures came in from all over the planet.
'As an organisation it shows there is so much talent around the world and we look forward to building on that in the future.'