An eagle soars above a national park in Bali, Indonesia. A waterfall in Mexico is seen from above its shelf of cascading water. Those are the top two finishers in a contest held to find the best images captured by cameras mounted on aerial drones. The winners were recently unveiled by the site Dronestagram.
The website chose winners by two methods: a juried competition, and the images’ popularity among the site’s visitors (see the top three images in each category). The contest was sponsored by National Geographic France.
One image, taken at low altitude in Manila, Philippines, captured the smiles of kids and others watching a drone hover above them.
“Went back to my hometown in the Philippines,” the photographer, identified as jericsaniel, wrote. “I was flying in the park one Sunday morning when suddenly people had become really interested with my drone.”
Another image captures the sunset over the picturesque French town of Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland.