Abu Dhabi Photo Expedition: Arabian Desert photos

If you ever get a chance to spend the night in the middle of the Arabian Desert, don’t forget to bring your toothbrush…and your tripod… and your ball gown if you plan on taking some Arabian Desert photos.
Bonnie here, on Day Three of our Abu Dhabi Photo Expedition. Tonight we’re sleeping in the desert, where we can take our time photographing the wandering camels and the sunset over the dunes, while we wiggle our toes in the sand.

Another proud Arabian beauty
The coolest thing about these expeditions is traveling with a bunch of fellow adventurers — people who have a real thirst for life. People like Lola.
Lola bought a gorgeous dress in the Dubai market yesterday… and today she bravely wore it out into the dunes for an impromptu photo shoot!

The folks who come on these expeditions are fun, daring, and adventurous. Willing to sleep in the desert, ride camels, and get up to watch the sunrise.

 

I’ve never seen anything like the desert out here. If you stand at the top of a dune and turn slowly in a circle, you will see nothing but rolling hills of sand, as far as the horizon, in every direction.

I say “nothing” but sand, but in fact, the desert is quite alive with wild camels, plants, beetles, and whatever we heard whooping and hollering after sunset…

Gyrfalcon – family pet and desert hunter
But the light isn’t always ideal. Take a look at this photo I snapped of a wandering desert beauty, for example:

It’s pretty flat and dull-looking. Luckily, after about five minutes of processing in Lightroom, it looks much better:

This is the kind of photo you can take while traveling and submit as stock. It’s iconic, and it doesn’t need a model release.
But just about every photo you submit to a stock agency needs some processing in Lightroom to make it look its best. You don’t need to spend hours on a single photo… but a few minutes making it look how you remember seeing it with your eye will do wonders for your sales in the end.
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