15 incredible photos that were taken by drones

Drone photography is incredible. Just look at this!

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This is just third place winner in a two-month competition challenging people around the world to submit their best aerial photos taken by drones. The winners were announced Thursday after 10,000 entries poured in from 146 countries.

Check out the best of those beautiful images below:

Aerial drone photo (Toning Joe)
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This photo of a boat drifting at sea was taken by Karlo Matuguinas. It secured third place in the beauty category.

Aerial drone photo (Karlo Matuguinas)
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Darin Kuntz used a drone to take this photo of a thunderstorm exploding over Lubbock, Texas in April 2015. It secured second place in the beauty category.

Aerial drone photo (Darin Kuntz)
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This breathtaking shot taken by Hanbing Wang's drone is of the gorgeous, unique forest in the Yuli Country of Xinjiang Uyghur — an autonomous region of China.

Aerial drone photo (Hanbing Wang)
These are populus euphratica trees! Skypixel

It won first prize in the beauty category.

Luke Bell took this photo of the silhouette of his friend catching a Phantom drone after it took shots above a sand dune. It placed third in the drones in use category.

Aerial drone photo (Luke Bell)
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This photo, taken by Yunqing Zhang, shows an Inspire 1 drone taking photos of doves. It placed second in the drones in use category.

Aerial drone photo (Yunqing Zhang)
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Here we see Wenjian Chen's aerial drone taking up-close shots of boats. This photo places first in the drones in use category.

Aerial drone photo (Wenjian Chen)
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A drone took this photo of climbers at the highest point on the Via Ferata in the Alps. Submitted by Marco Kolleppel, it won third prize in the dronie category.

Dronie on the Mountain (Marco Kolleppel)
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A drone took this awesome shot from the top of a mountain in Sviland, Norway. The photographer goes by Audrius R and won second prize in the dronie category.

2. King of the Mountain (Audrius R)
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Alex Kerkis won first prize in the dronie category with this shot of a friend taking a photo of the drone on top of a roof.

1. Panvelvet is Taking a Photo (Alex Kerkis)
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This hot air balloon's shadow points directly at its landing spot. The drone shot won third in the beauty category and was taken by Glen Orsak.

Aerial drone photo Hot Air Balloon (Glen Orsak)
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An aerial shot of Palm Jebel Ali, an artificial archipelago in Dubai, secured second place in the beauty category. The photographer goes by Rob W.

Aerial drone photo Unfinished (Rob W)
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This first place shot in the beauty category by Maksim Tarasov is dubbed "Eye." A suiting name considering that's exactly what it looks like!

aerial drone photo Eye (Maksim Tarasov)
But it's really a hole drilled into a frozen lake by a fisherman. Skypixel
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This stunning photo is of the light trails made by DJI's Phantom 3 Pro Drone. This shot by Mo Mu secured first prize for drones in use in the enthusiast category (the ones prior to this were all part of the professional category).

Aerial drone photo Phantom 3 Light Trails (mo mu)
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This beautiful photo of a husband and wife laying in an abandoned soccer field also secured a prize in one of the enthusiast categories. It was taken by Toning Joe.

Aerial drone photo (Toning Joe)
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And last but not least, the grand prize when to Kirk Hille for this aerial drone shot of of Lucky Bay in western Australia.

Aerial drone photo (Kirk Hille)
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