Your Best Shot

Your Best Shot is a free photo competition open to Australian residents. There's a different theme every couple of months, and a selection of the winning shots will be published in AP mag and online.

Each issue, AP's Editor Mike O'Connor chooses six images to be published both in print and online, with both a winner and a runner-up selected. Our winner will also receive an amazing prize of three Retouch4me photo retouching apps.

Retouch4me retouching apps are available as Photoshop plugins and standalone apps. Options include Heal, Dodge & Burn, Eyes Bundle, Fabric, Skin Mask, Portrait Volumes, Clean Backdrop, Skin Tone, White Teeth, Mattifier, Color Match and Dust.

Average retail price is US$145 per plugin. For a limited time Retouch4me is offering AP readers 20% off their normal prices at this link.

How to enter

To enter, upload your entry via the competition theme boxes below.

Please include up to 200 words explaining how you created your image in the Entry Description field. Please also include technical details including camera, lens, focal length, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, tripod (if used) and a brief summary of any software edits.

A maximum of three images can be entered per person.

LIGHT/SHADOW - Entries close 30 September 2026

OCEAN - Entries close 30 November 2026

Australia - Entries close 30 January 2027

ENTRIES CLOSED - MINIMALISM

ENTRIES CLOSED - SOFT LIGHT

ENTRIES CLOSED - BIG AND SMALL

ENTRIES CLOSED - ABSTRACT

When we announce the winners

MINIMALISM
Closes: 31 July 2026
Shortlist published in the Oct/Nov 2026 issue of AP.

LIGHT/SHADOW
Closes: 30 September 2026
Shortlist published in the Dec/Jan 2027 issue of AP.

OCEAN
Closes: 30 November 2026
Shortlist published in the Feb/Mar 2027 issue of AP.

AUSTRALIA
Closes: 30 January 2027
Shortlist published in the Apr/May 2027 issue of AP.

Conditions of entry

To enter, you must be an Australian resident or citizen with an Australian mailing address.
The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Employees of Yaffa Media (and freelance contributors) are not eligible to win the prize.
Submitted images must have been taken no more than 24 months before the competition deadline.
The prize is subject to change without notification.
You must have an Australian street address to be eligible to win the prize.

You retain copyright of your images. By entering, you grant Yaffa Media a limited-use licence to publish your image in Australian Photography, at australianphotography.com, on Australian Photography's social media channels (including Facebook and Instagram) and in the Australian Photography email newsletter and other media for the purposes of promoting the Your Best Shot competition.