Today we unveil our 20 most compelling images of 2024 – and give you the stories behind them. We’ve also updated our photos of the century (so far) ... and added our best wildlife images of the year. Enjoy!

PHOTOGRAPH BY BERTIE GREGORY 

Zoom in! That’s a hungry baby penguin, crowded off a 50-foot cliff, taking a death-defying leap into the water. Nat Geo Explorer Bertie Gregory watched, dumbfounded, as more and more chicks followed. Here’s the inside story on how he and other top photographers got their stunning images.

Related: What happened to those baby penguins?
Coming up: National Geographic’s Secrets of the Penguins will be airing in April.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PRASENJEET YADAV 

This is the big enchilada, the pick of the top photos submitted to us all year. Above, Nat Geo Explorer Prasenjeet Yadav went to last home in the wild of these extra-wide-striped tigers—which are particularly shy and skittish. It is one of our Pictures of the Year.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PETER FISHER

The Fuego volcano in Guatemala has been erupting nearly every day since 2002.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE 

From the falling World Trade Center towers to BLM protests, from a path-breaking face transplant to the last moments of a rhino species, National Geographic photographers have been captured this turbulent century. Here is one image per year. (Above, a three-year-old cheetah, part of Joel Sartore’s Photo Ark collection of thousands of vulnerable species.)

Related: Our best wildlife photos of the year 

Today’s Soundtrack: Heartbeats, José González

Thanks for opening today’s special Photography newsletter. David Beard edited and curated it, and Alisher Egamov produced it. Like what you see? Sign up here to get our Health newsletter tomorrow and/or our next Photo of the Week newsletter on Sunday.