Eagle shot wins drone photography competition

The arrival of cheap drone technology - and small, light high-quality cameras - has given rise to a new genre of beautiful aerial photography and film-making, the BBC reports.

A new competition, sponsored by National Geographic, has highlighted some stunning examples of drone photographs taken in the past year.

The winner of the competition was a stunning view of an eagle soaring high above a national park in Indonesia.

More photographs can be seen on Dronestagram, a site dedicated to the images taken in mid-air.

The site's founder Eric Dupin told the BBC drone photography quite literally offers a whole new perspective.

"It depicts a new vision of the world, with stunning images taken from low altitude, near field," he said.

"It is so different of images taken by satellite or plane or helicopter, or, on the other end, street view images. It represents an 'intermediary layer'."