Jaw-dropping drone photos that highlight the best of the natural world

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Sygiriya, the legendary “lion rock” in Sri Lanka, is an ancient village built in the sky (Credit: Dronestagram/jcourtial).

Camera drones are not only getting better, they are also getting cheaper, giving more and more aspiring aerial photographers the tools to gather incredible imagery from above. All over the world, hobbyists and professionals are putting their aircraft into the sky to gain incredible new perspectives on the natural world. Here we take a look at some stunning examples taken from photo-sharing platform Dronestagram.

In the space of a few short years, drone photography has become hugely popular, meaning there are more eyes in the sky than ever before. These flying cameras can be positioned out over waterfalls, above forests and in the midst of wildlife to show us perspectives on the world that simply haven’t been seen before.

In the mix here we have all manner of natural phenomena, from flamingos taking flight, to majestic waterfalls in Laos, to frozen lakes in Siberia where cracks are beginning to appear. This particular photo reveals a rocky coastline in Portugal.

And this one shows a waterfall in El Salvador’s El Impossible National park. Dronestagram user “Champagneroads” believes she was the first person to fly over this incredible landmark with a drone.

Waterfall in the National Park El Impossible, El Salvador

All of these images show us the Earth in astonishing ways, but some could easily be mistaken for the surface an alien world, like this photo taken by Steve Zmak above a salt marsh near the mouth of the Salinas River, USA.