A drone's eye view of life on Earth - PHOTO

With this in mind, photo-sharing site Dronestagram wanted to reward the photography skills of drone enthusiasts with its first aerial photo contest. Judges and sponsors, including National Geographic and GoPro, have now selected the winners - and first prize went to a magnificent aerial shot of an eagle soaring over a national park in Indonesia.Picking winners was a very difficult task especially because of the great quality of the photos that have been submitted,’ explained the site.‘We tried to reward the photos that show the fantastic potential offered by drones in terms of image. It’s been an amazing first edition with many photos entered from everywhere in the world.’The first prize winner was Dendi Pratam from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, registered under the username Capungaero.His drone captured an eagle from above as the bird soared over Bali Barat National Park in Pratam’s home country.Pratam said he noticed the eagle was chasing the drone, but rather than attack it, the bird was playing with it.Second place went to Jericsaniel, or Jericho Saniel Lunario, from the Philippines.His image captured an aerial shot of cyclists, joggers and visitors to a park in Caloocan City in Manila. He used a DJI Phantom drone fitted with a GoPro Hero 3 camera.Saniel Lunario said: ‘I was flying in the park one Sunday morning when suddenly people became really interested in my drone. Looking at this picture, I realised how happy my drone made these people.Third place went to Dominique Reginensi Reignier-Esery from Haute-Savoie's shot of a sunset over Annecy in France. It captures the moment the sun pierces the castle in the old town region. This caused the light to produce a rainbow of colours on the bridge in the foreground. Awards were also given to the photos that didn’t make the top three, but were the most liked photos on the Dronestagram contest page.The most popular image captured the Tamul Waterfall in Mexico and was shot by drone photography firm Postandfly.With its 344ft (105 metre) drop, Tamul is the highest waterfall in the state of San Luis Potosi.User Jeremy Ballester, also known as Jams69, came fifth overall, and second in the most-liked list with his image of Sanary in France.Ballester told National Geographic France, which sponsored and helped judge the contest: ‘I am totally addicted to this type of shooting.'I never go anywhere without my drone. That morning, I was up at 7.30am to capture this magnificent sunrise from the belfry of Sanary-sur-mer.’And the third most-liked image was taken by user IceFire, in Sofia, Bulgaria.It captures a firework display over National Stadium Vasil Levski in May this year.Describing the image, photographer Svetlin Marinov said: ‘This [image] is the 100th anniversary of one of the two biggest football teams in Bulgaria. After a special game with the legendary Italians from Lazio; the time came for the big firework display.‘Along with it, the public was invited to fire up everything that they had and all together produced this amazing, spectacular image.’(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az