Gallery: Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year finalists

Charged with sorting through 2,129 images from more than 500 people, judges have named their shortlist of 100 pictures vying for prizes in the 2026 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year (AGNPOTY) competition. Here are our favorites.

Now in its 23rd year, the contest attracts the country's most renowned nature photographers, who could submit their star images in one of 10 categories – Animals in Nature, Animal Behaviour, Botanical, Macro, Landscape, Threatened Species, Monochrome, Our Impact, Portfolio and Junior.

"The images are incredible, and the messages they deliver about our environment and the natural world are both beautiful and poignant," said South Australian Museum Director Samantha Hamilton. "All the shortlisted finalists should be congratulated for their hard work and support for the environment."

The overall winner, as well as those picking up category prizes, will be announced on August 27. The shortlisted images will feature an exhibition opening on 29 August at the South Australian Museum, and from this a People’s Choice award will be announced in January 2027.

"The standard this year was extremely high but there wasn’t much disagreement among the judges," said 2025 winner and 2026 judge Ross Gudgeon. "It was very easy getting down to 200 photos, but it then got very difficult narrowing it down again to the final 100.

"In the end it was pretty much attention to detail that was the difference between making the shortlist or missing out," he added.

Birds feature heavily across multiple categories, including the image above by Western Australian photographer Georgina Steytler, who is shortlisted in the Animal Behaviour category with her snap titled "Strutting Tern."

"The quirky courtship ritual of sooty terns involves the birds cocking their head to one side, dropping their wings and goose-stepping around each other in unison, flicking sand with their feet as they go," Steytler revealed. "I was delighted to get this shot showcasing their wonderful dance."

Australian Geographic Picture Editor Lyndal Irons summed the AGNPOTY contest up well: "Every year, this competition turns a lens to our region and photographers find angles we didn't know were missing."

So here are a few of our chosen highlights from the shortlist, with more in our gallery. Head to the South Australian Museum website to see all 100 finalists.

Sydney, NSW photographer Rachelle Mackintosh, whose marine wildlife photos are incredible, has been shortlisted in the Animal Behaviour category for her image titled "A Rock and a Hard Place," taken at St Andrews Bay, South Georgia Island.

"Newborn elephant seal pups are breastfed for about three weeks before their mothers leave them to fend for themselves," Mackintosh said. "It's hard to say whether this pup was related to either of these females, but, with their booming belches, they both let him know he was not wanted."

Lincoln Macgregor (NSW) made the Macro shortlist for this capture, titled "Shifting Shadows," featuring a spiny leaf insect – an animal that goes through life largely unnoticed by humans and other threatening species.

"The spiky silhouette of a spiny leaf insect reveals how well-defended these phasmids are from predators," Macgregor explained. "I discovered it on a tree in my backyard one evening, backlit by a living room light. This image goes to show that you don’t always have to travel far to see extraordinary creatures."

Photographer Matt Bell (Victoria) demonstrates that patience pays off when it comes to capturing a shot in the wild. And the wait is not an easy task when you're photographing animals in Antarctica.

"Huddled in a Zodiac boat in icy waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, I waited patiently for an Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) to propel itself from the water to the safety of an iceberg," Bell said of his image "Penguin Pose," which is shortlisted in the Animals in Nature category. "Persistence delivered as I captured this penguin in an almost levitational-like state, as if posing for the camera."

We all know nature can be brutal, from apex predators to tiny organisms. Here, a pony ant – most commonly known as a green-head ant (Rhytidoponera metallica), native to Australia, is experiencing the worst day of its life. Why? Because it's been paralyzed by an army of spider ants (Leptomyrmex sp.), who are having a comparatively great day.

"Spider ants surround and immobilize a pony ant on the rainforest floor," said photographer François Brassard (Western Australia), of his image titled "Surrounded by Foes," shortlisted in the Macro category. "They will carry their unfortunate prey to their nest, where they will feed it to their sister larvae."

If you've seen the size and speed of elusive jumping spiders, you'll know what an incredible shot this is from Queensland photographer Bridgette Gower. This remarkable image, snapped in tropical Far North Queensland, perfectly captures how nature's beauty can be seen on even a tiny scale – if you take the time to look for it.

"I came across this tiny jumping spider navigating a maze of fallen leaves within a low bush," she said. "I paused, watched and waited for the perfect moment. Eventually, it climbed to the very edge of a leaf – poised like a performer on a stage or a tiny king surveying its kingdom."

Western Australian photographer Emma Parker captured a very different kind of mud wrestling taking place in Roebuck Bay Marine Park. Her image, "Crab Attack," is now a standout in the Animal Behaviour category.

"I had this image in mind before my second trip to Broome," said Parker. "I wanted to observe and photograph a unique interaction between the species vying for space in the mudflats. After three days, I was lucky to witness a mud crab lift a mudskipper right out of the water."

Finally, this poignant image by Western Australia's Kendra Campbell captures the uphill battle that sea turtles have in not just reaching the water after hatching from sandy nests, but surviving till adulthood. This baby Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) has a long road ahead – and this photo fittingly earned Campbell a place in the finalists for the Threatened Species category.

"As I lay on the sand behind this hatching nest at sunset, I thought about how the statistics are against their survival," she noted. "Then, that this may be the one in 1,000 that survives against the odds, returning to this same beach to nest in several decades."

Source: South Australian Museum