Picture credit: Craig Bill

Captured by American photographer Craig Bill, the image – called ‘Tempest’ – beat almost 4,000 entries to take the top prize in the Open section of the competition.

The winner said he captured the lightning over a 15-20 minute period, and photographed the moon rising later that evening before ‘fusing’ the images into one.

Triumphing in the Amateur category was Sergey Semenov from Russia, with an aerial shot of Central Park in New York.