CREATED over 60 years ago, this weighty machine was the Photoshop of its time. The Adam’s Retouching Machine, which weighs two-and-a-half stone, was invented in 1947 and gave photographers the opportunity to perfect their pictures. Instead of uploading images to a computer, photographers would place their negative under the magnifying glass. Blemishes in the picture could then be smoothed out by using a retouching pencil, assisted by the gentle vibrations of the machine.
SOARING through the air, a hungry white-tailed kite prepares to snatch a vole from his mother’s claws .
HUDDLED together in the hollow of a tree, it would be easy to overlook these two sleepy owls as they blend into the trunk .
PRANKSTER Dom Joly was so livid when he was slapped with a parking ticket that he took to Twitter to vent his anger – only to discover he was the victim of his own gag! The comic got a taste of his own medicine when he was tricked by a fellow joker for the first time in a decade .
An adorable orangutan named Pongo celebrates his first birthday at Zoo Atlanta, Georgia, America .
At least three people have been killed and more than 100 injured, some seriously, in two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon .
From foster care to the MAGICAL world of cosplay, a young girl’s dreams become reality after being adopted by a photography loving couple .
NEW DELHI, A woman activist of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party crosses a police barricade near the residence of ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi during a protest against the recent rape of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi, India, April 21, 2013 .
Sam Notaro built his own flood defences to protect his four-bedroom home in Moorland, Somerset Flooding is likely to get worse around Somerset as groundwater levels continue to rise .
An Indonesian farmer is dragged through muddy water as he clings to the tails of two charging cows .
Gigantic 100ft waves create the perfect playground for dare-devil surfers from across the world .
An Italian photographer travelled to Chile where he visited several star-gazing sites, home to some of the world's most advanced telescopes, located in the spectacular setting of the Atacama desert .
POWERFUL bolts of lightning illuminate the night sky in an incredible autumn storm over the Sardinian coastline .