Drones have opened the door to new some incredible new angles that, in past, would have required a DSLR and a personal helicopter pilot. Dronestagram, an online community for dedicated to drone photography enthusiasts, has released the winners of its annual photo contest. Here are some of the best.
Although only in its fourth year, the Dronestagram International Drone Photography Contest has gained a strong following already. It's carried out in conjunction with National Geographic, and breaks submissions into four separate categories: Nature, People, Urban and Creative.
"I was blown away by the creativity of the photos in this contest," says Jeff Heimsath, Photo Editor at National Geographic and judge for this year's contest. "The photographers used drones to capture the world from new and unique perspectives. The selection process was far from easy, this contest has certainly surfaced the best drone images from around the world."
Nature
The winning Nature image came from jcourtial. It was taken on a DJI Phantom 4 in June, and depicts the lavender fields of Provence, France being trimmed for (you guessed it) summer. Second place went to Calin Stan for Infinite Road to Transylvania, while third belonged to Ice Formation, taken on a DJI Phantom 3 Advanced by Florian.
People
People was taken out by Martin Sanchez, who took the stunning shot you see above on his DJI Mavic in Manasquan, California. "When you walk around a new world perspective, you forget what is up and what is down," says Sanchez in his image caption. "Falling from the edge of the lines."
helios1412 was voted second for Waterlily, while feelingmovie secured third in the category with La Vijanera, taken using a DJI Phantom 4 on Spain's northern coast.
Urban
Urban delivered some stunning shots, none more so than Concrete Jungle from bachirm. Taken in Dubai on a DJI Phantom 4, the shot beat Dawn on Mercury Tower from alexeygo and Peace, shot by luckydron in Madrid.
Creativity
Creativity is a new category for 2017. It was created to celebrate some of the more interesting, crazy shots from the community. The winning shot, from LukeMaximoBell, captures some fascinating shadows on a lake near Cape Town, South Africa. Second place went to rga for Ugo le marin, while macareuxprod secured third with Next Level.
You can check out the full selection of images in the gallery. A video put together by the contest organizers is below.
Source: Dronestagram