The Sahara and the Universe

keety

keety

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So, I was recently asked to go photograph a couples wedding out in Morocco... as I was there I thought it would be rude not to sort out a trip into the desert... something that I've been wanting to do since I was a small kid, playing on the Sand dune sat my local beach and watching Lawrence of Arabia...so I took a trip... which included crossing the atlas mountains and 800km in a cramped mini bus, followed by a camel trek and overnight stay (I slept under the starts until the moon went down... a stunning experience)


Here we go... it's two exposures blended together.. the sky was 20 seconds, at f/2.8 ISO 6400 20 seconds and the foreground was 8 minutes at f/2.8 ISO 800...

I was camped out about a 1/4 of a mile from where I took this shot.... I'm not normally worried about being in the middle of nowhere in the dark on my own when taking photos, but this was a little unnerving....All I could see where dunes that broke the horizon... everything else was black...I did see a desert fox whilst i was out there (no, not Rommel!)



Sahara Universe by Keety, on Flickr
 
Oh I like that, very much (y)
 
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Cheers to all the above! (y)
 
Stunning! Love it. Very saleable:)
 
Thanks for the comments peeps... I need to tidy it up a bit as it was a bit of a rushed process as I wanted to have a quick look at it before I started work on the 3k wedding photos.... It's a shot I'd thought about for a while.... unfortunately due to other people walking over the dunes near the camp (they;re on the trip enjoying it as well!) it meant I had to walk a bit further in the pitch black to find some untouched ones.... being in the desert at night is incredibly disorientating...luckily I had my compass and gps with me just in case... but its still very hard to work out how steep the dunes are in the dark....I'm quite keen to go back!
 
Yep, stunning (y):clap:
 
Like you said, it would have been rude not to spend a night under the start taking a fantastic image
 
Oh my thats one amazing sky. Love the right up too.

Gaz
 
alan72 said:
Very nice and well processed and blended. Congratulations on persevering for 8 minutes for the foreground!!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I ended up just sitting on the sand and looking up... several months on i'm still finding orange sand in my pockets/wallet/bag

Would love to go back as annoyingly we had to leave the campsite before dawn! Was a bit irked as the sunrise was stunning... i have some shots from the back of a camel shot with my gopro....


Here's another shot but this time landscape...

Saharan Starscape by Keety, on Flickr
 
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Absolutely fantastic. Inspirational. Nothing more constructive to add.
 
Really cool idea and well executed. Love the dunes and the detail in the MW. Only thing I am not so keen on is the colour of the sky just above the horizon.
 
Very nice shots. Sounds like a great experience as well.

keety said:
Thanks, I ended up just sitting on the sand and looking up... several months on i'm still finding orange sand in my pockets/wallet/bag
Click to expand...

Did you take any precautions to avoid sand damage to your camera? I managed to brick an old point and shoot in similar conditions years ago so I've always been hesitant to take my good gear into sandy locations since then.
 
Great stuff, and not just the great shot but the perseverance in getting it. I prefer the wide view scene, giving lovely feeling of emptiness! But there are problems with it... Primarily the dunes have footprints which obviously you couldn't see in the dark I guess, even though you walked away as much as you can. Nevertheless, the dunes are not pristine and really need to be. A lot of PS work maybe would clean them up? The overall processing could be improved, particularly the blend as it currently has rather a harsh cut-out look. The colour balance too could do with tweaking as at the moment it all looks a bit 'muddy' tonally overall. (just IMHO, I realise this could be down to personal choice, but a cooler more nuanced processing would add an extra dimension to this image if done) I've attached an image to better show what I mean. Just nitpicking, it is still a great shot.
Desert Skies.jpg
 
Must get down to Camber Sands again one day

Seriously now, it is a very nice photo, can't say I looked for or noticed any signs of people contamination.
Would like to do something similar myself, difference is you have and I just think about it, bet it felt good
 
That's totally amazing, reminds me of just one night I camped out at a sheep station called Tobermory Station, near Quilpie, Queensland AUS , whilst backpacking, I stayed up nearly all night staring up at the Universe I was in total awe. Everyone needs to experience that, it puts our lives into perspective. Thanks for sharing Keety.
 
Magnificent! I hope to capture some stars in a few weeks but putting 2 exposures together is way beyond me.
 
Looks awesome to me! Never had a go at this night time stuff myself, looks satisfying though.
 
Just beautiful :)
 
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