The Winning Photos of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018

The prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has announced the winning photos of its 2018 contest. The overall winner was Dutch photographer Marsel van Oosten for his photo titled “The Golden Couple,” which shows snub-nosed monkeys in China.

Van Oosten shot the photo in the Qinling Mountains, the only place on Earth where these endangered monkeys can be found. The male and female monkeys are seen watching an altercation between two other lead males in the 50-monkey troop.

“Whenever he did catch up and if the monkeys were on the ground, the light was seldom right,” writes the Natural History Museum, which runs the contest. “Also, the only way to show both a male’s beautiful pelage and his striking blue face was to shoot at an angle from the back. That became Marsel’s goal.

“It took many days to understand the group’s dynamics and predict what might happen next, but finally his perseverance paid off with this gift of a perfect situation, with a perfect forest backdrop and perfect light filtering through the canopy. A low flash brought out the glow of the male’s golden locks to complete the perfect portrait.”

The shot was captured with a Nikon D810, Tamron 24–70mm f/2.8 lens, and Nikon SB-910 flash at 24mm, 1/320s, f8, ISO 1600, Nikon SB-910 flash.

Here are the other top winners of this year’s contest (non-winning finalists were revealed back in September):

15-17 Years Old: “Lounging Leopard” by Skye Meaker, South Africa

10 Years and Under: “Pipe Owls” by Arshdeep Singh, India

11-14 Years Old: “Duck of Dreams” by Carlos Perez Naval, Spain

Animals in their Environment: “Bed of Seals” by Cristobal Serrano, Spain

Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles: “Hellbent” by David Herasimtschuk, USA

Behaviour: Birds: “Blood Thirsty” by Thomas P Peschak, Germany/South Africa

Behaviour: Invertebrates: “Mud-rolling Mud-dauber” by Georgina Steytler, Australia

Behaviour: Mammals: “Kuhirwa Mourns Her Baby” by Ricardo Núñez Montero, Spain

Plants and Fungi: “Desert Relic” by Jen Guyton by Germany/USA

Under Water: “Night Flight” by Michael Patrick O’Neill, USA

Urban Wildlife: “Crossing Paths” by Marco Colombo, Italy

Earth’s Environments: “Windsweep” by Orlando Fernandez Miranda, Spain

Black and White: “The Vision” by Jan van der Greef, The Netherlands

Creative Visions: “The Ice Pool” by Cristobal Serrano, Spain

Wildlife Photojournalism: “The Sad Clown” by Joan de la Malla, Spain

Wildlife Photojournalist Award: Story: “Signature Tree” by Alejandro Prieto, Mexico

Rising Star Portfolio Award: “Dream Duel” by Michel d’Oultremont, Belgium

Wildlife Photographer Portfolio Award: “Mother Defender” by Javier Aznar González de Rueda, Spain

These winners were selected from over 45,000 entries submitted from photographers in 95 countries around the world. You can find out more about the contest and the exhibition of winning images on its official website.