Photo Of The Day: Best Of April: National Geography

Every day, we feature an image chosen from thousands submitted to our photo community Your Shot. Here are 10 favorites from April.

A powerful photo has the ability to tell a story through a single frame. The images that stood out this month conveyed a unique perspective that gave an added energy or intimacy to the picture—and compelled me to want to know more. What happened in the moments before that fox approached the lens? Was that highliner unnerved by the dizzying heights below him? How did the photographer end up inside an operating room during the birth of a newborn?

April's top pictures kept me curious long after I had moved on from the image.

More info: nationalgeographic.com

A group of gentoo penguins cross the beach at sunrise on Saunders Island, the fourth largest island in the Falkland Islands.

Participants throw colored dyes at one another in celebration of Holi, a springtime Hindu festival that honors love and friendship.

A single apartment is lit in a high-rise complex in Hong Kong. Your Shot photo editor Matt Adams published this photo in the Daily Dozen, saying, "There was just something so captivating seeing that one single apartment lit up around dusk. My eye went right to it when this image popped up during my edit of the Daily Dozen. It's a nice little moment that is well captured."

A Mongolian woman milks a yak on a cold morning. This intimate image impressed Your Shot photo editor Matt Adams. "This is a great environmental portrait, capturing someone in their element as they do work that defines them. Great work capturing the expression on her face and the location you are working with," he said.

Your Shot photographer Matthew Smith photographed this stunning close-up of a newly hatched hawksbill turtle in the Bismarck Sea. He said, "Elders in the villages of Northern Papua New Guinea told me of the sad decline in numbers of these turtles, noticeable in their lifetime. A small project has been set up there on the island of Lissenung to educate locals about the vulnerability of these animals and to protect nests from poachers."

An explorer uses a flare to illuminate a cave near Lake Baikal in Russia. "The reflections of the light give this image a very interesting feeling," says Your Shot photo editor Matt Adams. "Part beauty but also a bit ominous in a way."

An inquisitive fox approaches Your Shot photographer Boris Barabáš's camera in this exceptional wildlife image

The vibrant colors and shapes of the Caribbean are captured in this aerial image of the Petite Terre Islands in Guadeloupe. Your Shot photographer Stéphane Scotto rode a gyrocopter to get this fascinating perspective.

A newborn reaches upward towards the light. This symbolic photo was selected by National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson for the As the World Turns story on Your Shot. He said, "We've had a number of baby pictures submitted for this assignment, but this one struck me immediately."

Your Shot photographer Chris Eyre-Walker submitted this dramatic image of his friend highlining in the Walloon Region of Belgium to the Facing Your Fears assignment. "While some people fear heights, my friend David conquers them and finds peace in the balancing act of standing on a thin line," said Eyre-Walker.