Wave Breaking, Oahu

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."

Café in Sorrento, Italy

A chapel's mural serves as "a splendid backdrop" for two men chatting at a café 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."

Balloon Ride, Myanmar

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 …"

Dolphins, Red Sea

"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.

Swimmers, Kumta

"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."

Blue Ghost Fireflies, North Carolina

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."

Boat Hull, Czech Republic

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."