The very best drone photographs and movies of 2026, in response to SkyPixel

Each April, the drone pictures world will get its equal of the Oscars. DJI and SkyPixel have introduced the winners of the eleventh Annual SkyPixel Photograph and Video Contest — and as at all times, the outcomes are a helpful snapshot of the place aerial and handheld visible storytelling is true now.

The 2025 contest attracted almost 140,000 entries from across the globe. This yr’s eleventh version drew almost 95,000 submissions from 96 nations — a smaller uncooked quantity than final yr, however unfold throughout a barely extra targeted, DJI-gear-required competitors format. The prize pool this yr topped $200,000.

The competition has come a great distance from its origins. SkyPixel has been round since 2014 as a manner for drone pilots to add, set up and share their work, and the platform now claims greater than 55 million registered customers from 140 nations.

Right here’s a take a look at this yr’s winners.

Greatest Aerial Video: Africa Unseen by ellisvanjason

The highest aerial video prize went to “Africa Unseen” by ellisvanjason — a seven-minute cinematic portrait of Africa’s landscapes and wildlife that the creator describes as his ultimate large-scale ardour venture.

The creator used a complete suite of DJI instruments together with the Avata 2, Encourage 3, Mavic 3 Professional, Ronin 4D, RS 4 Professional, and DJI Focus Professional, drawing from over 35TB of cinematic-grade 8K footage. The end result strikes from sweeping desert vistas to grasslands and dramatic canyons, with FPV sequences inserting viewers alongside wildlife in movement in a manner that conventional cinematic drone work not often achieves.

Decide Zeng Jian famous the movie’s “exact composition and powerful visible management,” calling out its excessive degree of professionalism. Ryan Hosking praised the “stunning shade work and wonderful use of DJI know-how.” Benjamin Hardman known as it “probably the most cinematic works within the competitors” for its shade, composition, and narrative impression.

The FPV sequences alongside wildlife stand out, proving that filmmakers can don’t simply huge establishing pictures from a digicam drone, however immersive first-person views that put the viewer contained in the scene. With the Antigravity A1 and DJI Avata 360 now out there, anticipate that pattern to speed up significantly in subsequent yr’s submissions.

Greatest Handheld Video: Elsewhere The Gaze Can All the time Arrive by AYANG

The Handheld class — launched for the primary time within the 2025 contest as a nod to DJI’s Osmo line and expanded this yr to incorporate 360-degree digicam views — went to AYANG for “Elsewhere The Gaze Can All the time Arrive,” praised for its poetic narrative and integration of aerial and floor footage.

Decide Ryan Hosking famous the “nice use of a wide range of pictures and composition to assist inform the story properly,” with a uniform look that makes the piece really feel full. Decide Benjamin Hardman praised the “stunning storyline and inventive shot varieties” and the combination of tight and huge pictures that draw the viewer in.

Greatest Photograph: The Gate by Filip Hrebenda

The pictures grand prize went to Filip Hrebenda for “The Gate” — a composition that makes use of a pure rock bridge as a framing machine, with a lone human determine offering scale in opposition to atmospheric fog and background peaks.

Decide Daniel Kordan known as out the “clear and well-balanced composition with uncommon environmental circumstances that create a novel and unforgettable scene.” Jiang Ping highlighted the “interaction of sunshine, shadow, and mist” constructing a robust sense of depth. Jake Guzman famous that the rock bridge features as “a robust focus, with the lone topic including scale,” whereas the mist “fantastically softens the background peaks, creating depth and separation whereas sustaining a cohesive tone.”

Different notable winners

Among the many High 10 photographs, two stood out:

Carpet Fields by F. Dilek Yurdakul — a top-down composition of crimson agricultural fields whose rhythmic repetition transforms panorama into sample. Daniel Kordan praised the “sturdy use of sample and scale,” whereas Zhu Jiong described it as a “vivid and symbolic crimson sea.”

Smoking Cranium by Daniel — a volcanic shot capturing a naturally occurring cranium formation in smoke and ash. Drone timing pictures of geological phenomena has been a constant thread in SkyPixel contests for years, and that is among the many higher executions of it. Jiang Ping famous the “symbolic energy and rarity of the scene”; Zhu Jiong known as it “surreal and theatrical, revealing the hidden character of nature by way of aerial perspective.”

What this yr’s winners inform us

Just a few tendencies are price noting throughout the 2026 winners in comparison with final yr’s subject and the yr earlier than.

• The successful aerial video this yr is extra formidable in scope and manufacturing scale than current winners. It required 35TB of footage, a number of drone platforms and FPV sequences built-in with cinematic work. The bar for what constitutes a successful aerial video is clearly rising, which displays each higher instruments and a extra refined inventive group.
• The hand held class is maturing rapidly. In its second yr it already produced work that stands alongside the aerial entries in craft and intentionality. That is price awaiting anybody who thinks of DJI primarily as a drone firm. In spite of everything, the Ronin and Osmo ecosystems are producing severe inventive work.
• The very best picture this yr in the meantime stands as a counterpoint to the spectacle-first strategy that dominated early aerial pictures contests. The judges are clearly rewarding restraint and compositional intelligence alongside technical achievement.

The total gallery of winners is accessible at skypixel.com/contests/2025.

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