The picture above is titled ‘Making Insense’ and was shot by Nông Thanh Toàn, a commended finalist in this year’s Siena Drone Photography Awards.

According to Forbes, this year the competition received more than 4 500 submissions by professional and amateur photographers. These came not only by drone users, but also from fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, balloons, blimps and dirigibles, rockets, kites and parachutes.

Taking photos using a drone sounds easier, but to each, their own.

The categories included Abstract, Nature, People, Sports, Wildlife and Urban.

Here are our favourites from this year’s finalists and winners.

Soldier Field Blizzard, a shot of Chicago’s football stadium during a blizzard in November 2018.

Photograph: Jamie Link

Humpback Whale Feeding, Antarctica.

Photograph: Florian Ledoux

The Drone Awards photographer of the year for 2019 was awarded to Jacek Deneka, a photographer from Poland who captured cross-country skiers during the 50km classic race, the main competition of the Bieg Piastow Skiing festival organised in Jakuszyce, Poland.

A group of women in Long An, Vietnam, are washing water lilies, preparing them into a bundle for the market. 

Photograph: Khanh Phan

Two people sleeping in Boligvika, Norway.

Photograph: Atle Sveen

An aerial view shows the absolute symmetry of an overpass that fits perfectly among the colour of the surrounding flowerbeds in Foshan City, Guangdong, China.

Photograph: Ming Li

Antarctic peninsula crabeater seals rest on broken ice between foraging. 

Photograph: Florian Ledoux

An aerial photo of a boat shuttling between lotus flowers in the water village of Gulao, Guangdong, China.

Photograph: Shihui Liu

A seal pictured on the shore.

Photograph: Diana Buzoianu

Human giant.

Photograph: Bruno Sisti

Not at all shabby.

You can find more winners and finalists here.

[source:forbes]