This is the split-second moment a lightning bolt strikes the top of a TV tower in Berlin during an electric storm.
Photographer Nico Trinkhaus, 25, said the "lucky shot" was captured while he was taking sunset pictures from a 19th floor balcony in the city.
With forecasters not predicting rain, Nico was surprised to see heavy clouds rolling in over the city's skyline.
And as he attempted to click a few shots of the setting sun, a burst of lightning forked down from the sky - striking the 1,200ft tall Fernsehturm tower.
Nico, an entrepreneur from Berlin, said: "It was more of a coincidence than planned.
"I actually wanted to use the view from the balcony to take photos of the sun when it was setting behind the Berliner Dom and TV tower.
"Rain wasn't announced before 11pm, so we were surprised by the clouds. Luckily the balcony was a bit sheltered, so that we could keep on shooting. And when the storm passed, it left us with that wonderful pink sky."
Nico revealed that in his pursuit to capture a lightning shot, he was almost struck himself.
He added: "The TV tower was approximately 2300 ft away from us. This photo was taken when the thunderstorm was almost over.
"But when we were in the centre of the storm, one lightning struck our building. The vibration and extremely loud noise was a bit scary but we didn’t think too much about it in the moment.
"The scene was too amazing and overwhelming to process possible danger in the situation."
