Drone photography group capture stunning panoramic images of the world’s most famous cities at night

The most famous cities in the world have been photographed a seemingly infinite number of times – but never quite like this.

Shanghai, China

AirPano, a group of Russian photographers, capture stunning nighttime panoramic – and sometimes 360-degree – aerial images of many well-known hotspots.

Their images feature flowing lines of light, distorted buildings, and famous landmarks – many of which have have won the group a number of awards.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

AirPano’s travels have taken them to modern metropolises like Singapore, Shanghai, and Dubai, but also traditional cities like Lisbon and Bueno Aires – and, of course, New York City.

In order to capture these images, the group use a series of drones, which often require permission from the cities in to get them airborne.

Las Vegas, Nevada

As well as the panoramic stills, the result of AirPano’s flights can be a 360-degree virtual reality experience, which allows viewers to seamlessly witness the cities’ skylines or landmarks from above, rotating from central point.

In the future, Sergey Rumyantsev, a photographer and CTO for AirPano, revealed the group hope to shoot London and Vancouver at night – but are still making progress on flight permission for their drones.

Chechnya, Russia

Due to the growing popularity of the devices, Sergey has found it is becoming more difficult for drone photography groups like AirPano because a growing number of locations are banning them.

Aside from cities, AirPano’s crew have also shot volcanos, the North Pole and the Seven Wonders of the World.

Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Sergey said: “Because we are creating panoramic content, it’s very important to choose the best places for night shots.

“Usually we take off somewhere close to the city centre or in the middle of a big district to have lights all around the camera.

New York, USA

“It’s not so easy to shoot at night because we need to use long exposure and, at the same time, the drone has to be static.

“But the night cities photography series is something extremely beautiful and works really well.”