The Taihang No. 1 Tourist Road in rural China

An aerial view of colorful autumn foliage and the Taihang No. 1 Tourist Road winding through a forest in Jinzhong, Shanxi province, China, on October 19, 2026,  Photo credit: Xue Jun / VCG / Getty

One of the Photos of the Week in The Atlantic.

Cribraria aurantiaca

Whenever I want an interesting image to leave at the top of TYWKIWDBI at the end of a blogging day, I can always rely on a photo of a slime mold.  This image, taken in West Sussex by Kutub Uddin is a winning entry in the Wildlife photographer of the year 2026 competition, via a gallery in The Guardian.

A request for Photoshop assistance

I saw the above request in a Facebook thread.  I don't normally monitor Photoshop request sites, but I have enjoyed some responses I've seen in the past, including my post "When you ask the internet for assistance" in 2017, this "Photoshop battle" in 2018, and more recently "AI is the new Photoshop" earlier this year.  So I was delighted and not surprised to see these responses to the above request:

There are dozens more at the Facebook source; cyberspace abounds in amazingly creative people.

Addendum:  Here's another request with hundreds of responses -

- and there are of course many more clever requests/replies in that Facebook group.

Three giraffes

"I took this in 2025 in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, in the Oltepesi area. Three young giraffes were standing side by side on the savanna and looked back at me with great curiosity. Right behind the middle one stood a single umbrella acacia, perfectly lined up with its head and neck. The giraffe seemed to be wearing the tree, like a green hairdo or a fancy hat. Nothing was staged or arranged; it was a matter of being in the right spot at the right moment’"

Photograph: Dirk Koster/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards 2026

Via The Guardian, where this was one of several featured photos from the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards finalists for 2026.  (Image cropped for emphasis from the original)

A "fish nest"

Third Place, Conservation Hope. A male white-spotted pufferfish creates an intricate spawning nest in the sand. The fish carefully shapes a two-meter-wide radial pattern using only his fins. Built over several days, this structure and its subtle details reveal the extraordinary effort this small fish invests in reproduction.

This was one of the winning photographs in the Ocean Photographer of the Year competition, from a gallery in The Atlantic.  Photo credit Yuta Shigeno,

Aurora over an Icelandic waterfall

An Astronomy Photo of the Day, from NASA.

Sparrowhawk vs. starling

I'll post one more bird photo, because I don't want to end the blogging day with a photo of J.D. Vance at the top of the blog column.  This image was one of the winners in the British Wildlife Photography Awards for 2026, from a gallery in The Atlantic.

Nemesis. Winner, Animal Behavior. Parker: “Because the sparrowhawk had never gone to ground before on previous visits to the garden, and not knowing how long it would stay, I just wanted to get an image to record the event before then concentrating on my settings. The story I think the image portrays is evident in the eye contact between the two subjects and the vicelike grip they have on each other, however, the eye contact and grip of the juvenile starling is out of pure fear while that of its nemesis is one of dominance and relief in finally catching a much-needed meal.”

AI is the new Photoshop

It wasn't that long ago that Photoshop was the top-of-the-line image-altering program.  The new AI technology has left the crude tools of Photoshop in the dust.  The image above was posted on Facebook with a request: "Could you fabulous and talented artists put my friend's mom doing activities or things she'd never want her mom to do?"  I've embedded below just four of the dozens of clever and skillful images posted on the thread. 

Nudibranch and feather grass

Posted for the beauty of the images. 

Why mosquito eggs float

This hand-coloured scanning electron micrograph was the favourite of the jury in the section "Best Scientific Image". The image shows the surface of a mosquito egg (from Culex pipiens), which generates a water repellent network by connecting microscopically small structures to trap a thin layer of air. The vitally important structures avoid immersion and enable the egg to float and aggregate with neighbouring eggs.

The website of photographer Martin Oeggerli.  Reposted from 2013 because I had my first encounter with mosquitoes this week in the woods behind our house.

The south celestial pole

This was the Astronomy Photo of the Day, showing a time-lapse image of the sky as seen in the Southern Hemisphere, looking toward the south celestial pole.  Discussion at the link.

Lusitano stallion

One of the winning photos in the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards open competition.

Celestial Dance. Shortlist, Motion. This young Lusitano stallion was allowed to move freely during a photography session, enabling the photographer to capture its powerful and graceful movements.

Credit Lorea Hausheer, via The Atlantic.  Posted so I don't end the blogging day with a damn war story at the top of the column.

Interesting photograph

The underside of a brick bridge illluminated by light reflected off water, with perhaps something else casting a shadow - I haven't figured that part out.  No info re location at the Facebook source.

Sparrowhawk on juvenile starling

I don't want to end the blogging day with a picture of you-know-who at the top of the page, so I'll add this absolutely awesome photo (click to embiggen) that was the winner in the "Animal Behavior" category of the British Wildlife Photography awards for 2026.  Credit Mark Parker, via The Atlantic, where there are other excellent photos.

Photo of the day

A sika deer with the severed head of a rival male that died in their battle skewered on its antler.  Photograph: Kohei Nagira/Wildlife Photographer of the Year.  Via The Guardian.

I find my self wondering how the impaled head became severed from the rest of the carcass.  Almost certainy not from the battle per se.  Did the victor have to drag the carcass around as he grazed until the flesh rotted, or did wolves perhaps scavenge the dead body up top the neck?

Addendum: found the answer in The Atlantic, which also posted the photo: "A local fisherman says the deer dragged the whole body for several days before finally tearing off its head."  Maybe he was able to stomp the neck area with his hooves.  (p.s. - both links have a bunch of excellent wildlife photos)

"Couple flirting on a fire escape" (1946)

Stanley Kubrick: Couple Flirting on a Fire Escape, Park Benches - Love is Everywhere series, 1946

Until I encountered this photo on Miss Folly, I didn't realize that Stanley Kubrick was a photographer before he was a filmmaker. 

Two images of an extrajudicial killing

Hats off to the Minnesota Star Tribune for posting this pair of images side-by-side.  I had seen the photo on the right and wanted to use it for the blog because of the extraordinary clarity of the image, but couldn't find a source to explain how such high resolution could be generated by citizen cellphone cameras.  The Star Tribune explains:

A widely shared image of federal agents surrounding ICU nurse Alex Pretti as one agent holds a gun to the back of his head appears as real as it does horrific.

But a closer look at the photo reveals a headless agent. Such bodily distortion is a red flag that an image used artificial intelligence. In this case, AI enhanced a low-quality screenshot of a bystander video, digital forensic experts said.

It’s the latest altered imagery from Minneapolis to make the rounds online during the federal government’s immigration enforcement surge. Other digitally manipulated images circulated after Renee Good’s killing by a federal agent. The White House also shared a fake image of activist and attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, edited to make it appear that she was crying during her recent arrest for disrupting a church service. Video from the arrest showed there were no tears.

AI-enhanced and manipulated images are a new obstacle in the court of public opinion. Their proliferation online is eroding trust and inflaming divisions...

The AI image of Pretti’s killing is more nuanced than many, Farid said, because it combines something real with hallucinated elements.

In court, the edited image would never be admissible as evidence. But in the court of public opinion, an image that is based in truth but fabricated can make for difficult debates.

If someone calls out a friend for sharing the AI-generated image of Pretti and says, “This is fake,” for example, someone can argue that the person is siding with federal agents when really the person is only pointing out the image is digitally altered...

“The real poison here is not AI, it’s social media,” he said. “AI is just supercharging it. But if people could make these fake images and fake videos and there was no delivery mechanism, I mean, honestly, who cares? The problem is not the content itself. The problem is that these social media platforms eagerly absorb it and amplify it because it’s good for business.”..

At the very least, he advises people to slow down, think critically and look closely at images before spreading misinformation. He said images are made in an instant, often to provoke strong reactions and sow discord.

This article makes important points and should be shared widely.  The top right image will be labeled "fake" to imply altered facts, but the manipulation was done for visual clarity.  The photo of Nekima Levy's arrest was changed to present an alternate reality:

When I first saw it I assumed it was being distributed by a right-wing rag; I was deeply disappointed (but not surprised) that it came from a White House source.

We live in difficult times where visual (and auditory) information can be skillfully manipulated in an effort to manipulate our understanding.  Be careful out there.

Note:  Please limit your comments on this post to the use of artificial intelligence, not on the Alex Pretti killing per se.

Not a flying carpet

This photo was called an "accidental optical illusion" when it was posted at Reddit.  I think that's a very apt description.  Apart from the flag shadow paralleling the board, there's also the flagpole shadow oriented reasonably well re the microphone boom.  Very cool illusion.

Reposted from 2011 to accompany the next post.

Centuripe

I previously posted an aerial image of this Italian mountaintop community about five years ago, but this evening image enhanced by city lights is much more impressive (click to embiggen).

This image (credit Fabrizio Villa / Getty), was one of the Photos of the Week at The Atlantic. 

Brazilian sand dunes

"In a land still soaked from the rainy season, a river stained with tannin from a nearby forest marbles the sand."

From a set of ten photos at National Geographic, via La Muse Verte.  I have previously written a post about the remarkable Lençóis Maranhenses National Park.

Reposted from ten years ago to add this recent photo of flooded sand dunes at this location, via.

Reposted from 2021 to add this rather nice PBS video on the subject: