While in UAE during our Dubai and Jordan photography workshop, we had a chance to visit and photograph the stunning Liwa Desert. Little did we know that we would be lucky enough to witness a rare fog covering the entire desert. In this article, I will talk about my experience capturing one of my favorite images I’ve ever been able to get with a drone.
It was around 4:30 AM when our group left the hotel. The drive to the dunes was quite slow because of the thick fog; we could barely see the leading car in front of us most of the way. When we finally made it to the dunes and got out of our cars, the fog was too thick to see much of anything. Although we waited for quite a while, the fog just wouldn’t clear.
As you can tell from the photo, taken shortly after sunrise, the fog was extremely thick. I had wanted to fly my drone that morning, but the conditions just didn’t seem like they would allow it. Nasim and I decided to wait and see what would happen, just in case. Our friends Mahmoud Marei and Soqrat Qahoush also wanted to stay and shoot, hoping for the fog to clear.
When a bit of blue sky peeked through overhead about an hour later, I decided to launch my DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone (see our detailed review) and see if there was any hope. I flew the drone fairly high, ending up above the low-lying fog, and panned around in all directions. The clouds still appeared to cover the whole desert. As Nasim and I looked at the screen, it seemed hopeless.
But then we noticed a small clearing in the distance that appeared to have sand dunes visible. I flew my drone in that direction, and as I got closer, both Nasim and I started jumping for joy! Mahmoud and Soqrat immediately came over to see what we were looking at, and everyone was stunned to see the one opening in the sky that revealed dunes, with the sun rays putting golden light on them. It was absolutely breathtaking, something none of us have ever seen before.
I made sure that my drone was set to shoot 5 image bursts in order to reduce noise (even at base ISO), as explained by Nasim in his article on reducing noise when shooting with a drone. I positioned my drone so that the dunes were side-lit, with deep shadows separating them from each other, and took a few shots. The composition was especially important here – snaking S-curves of dunes at the front, leading to one tall peak rising in the distance.
Post-processing the image did not take much time. After I did preliminary post-processing in Lightroom, I opened all five layers in Photoshop, then used the Median stack mode to reduce the noise (refer to the tutorial article above for more information).
Here is the final image:
DJI Mavic Pro 2 @ 28mm, ISO 100, 1/1600, f/4.0
I highly recommend checking out our Youtube video from that morning (even more than normal)! Some of the drone video from above the clouds is pretty insane, and extremely unusual to see:
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Simply Magical!
Great photos
Spencer, Nasim, I question the wisdom of the two of you embarking on a photo workshop in the middle of a global health crisis, compounded by your decision to travel directly into the Middle East, one of the ‘hot zones’ for the coronavirus pandemic. Hope you are both safe. Now, of course, a travel ban is in place. In retrospect, do you have any misgivings about your judgement?
Niles, I’ve been asking myself that question over the past few days as well. The world was such a different place when my flight left two weeks ago. So much of what’s happened – “social distancing,” flight groundings, runs on supermarkets – is a product of the last 10 days or so.
This doesn’t mean it was wise to begin the workshop as planned, but given the information we had at each point in time, I don’t think Nasim or Tareq ever made an unreasonable decision regarding the workshop. Each of us (the 8-ish participants) were following the news closely ahead of time, and none mentioned – or even seriously considered, as far as I know – the possibility of not attending the workshop due to the virus. Again, a lot can change in two weeks.
However, I do want to emphasize that our itinerary was not a hotbed by any stretch. Although Iran has high rates of coronavirus, it was never on our itinerary. Our trip was going to involve the UAE, Jordan, and Turkey. Jordan had just one case, many weeks ago (someone who returned from Italy) and to this day does not have community spread as far as I know. Turkey is in the same boat, practically no presence of coronavirus. The UAE has slightly more cases, but is still fewer than Colorado as far as I know (and the UAE was our first stop on the workshop; we left a week ago, when it was even less of a concern).
So, while we certainly underestimated the potential for travel disruption and logistic nightmares, I truly don’t think, even in hindsight, that we exposed ourselves to a meaningful risk of catching COVID-19 (and not any more than would have been likely in our respective communities at home).
That said, unsurprisingly, we cut the workshop short and are all currently in transit home; I’m posting this comment while on my flight back. Despite a couple worrisome hours on hold with various airlines to book the tickets, it seems that everyone’s returning flights have gone smoothly so far, and all of us will make it home soon. Throughout it all, Nasim and Tareq have been monitoring our flights (most of us are on different ones) and progress, and I’m pretty sure they’d walk into the sun if it meant getting us home safe.
So, while my personal wisdom is admittedly quite minimal, my boots-on-the-ground impression is that Nasim and Tareq made good decisions at every turn for the workshop. Certainly not everything we did was perfect, but the things I saw confirmed my opinion that there are no other guides I’d rather have in time of crisis.
Really appreciate your concern, and I hope you and your loved ones are safe as well.
Hello Spencer, happy to hear that you and Nasim are safe and on your way back to the US.
I read your response very carefully. I disagree with you. Two weeks ago, the world knew enough about the Covid-19 pandemic, enough to intelligently conclude that it would not be wise to be traveling overseas. The Middle East was known to be an endemic spot, including the United Arab Emirates.
I realize that you are in transit and not fully prepared to defend yourselves, and I don’t mean any disrespect, but I believe (and I’m sure many here would agree with me) that you and Nasim were selfish and irresponsible.
I hope that you write an article on this, because I think this reflects very poorly on Photography Life and sets a bad example for your readers.
Safe travels.
I am not in a position to argue at this point, in part because I broadly agree with what you are saying. However, though I think one could intelligently conclude that overseas travel was a bad idea even 2+ weeks ago, I also think one could intelligently conclude that international travel to certain regions was manageable with reasonable precautions.
2 weeks ago, Disney World was open. Airlines has not suspended travel at any broad level (and there wasn’t chatter I saw of the possibility, though perhaps there was some I missed). Even the NBA didn’t suspend the season until five days ago, and they were quicker than most.
The people who joined us in the Middle East are friends who we knew already, not strangers on a tour group that we pushed too far to make money (Photography Life only breaks even on this workshop anyway; money was not a factor in our decision to keep it going). Everyone knew they were free to cancel, and the atmosphere beforehand led each of us independently to conclude it was a manageable risk. After everything, I remain confident that our assessment was correct; the current situation is about as bad as it reasonably could have gotten in two weeks, yet no one had any troubles with safety or getting back home. Most of the group is back already, or nearly so (including me).
If Nasim wants to add his thoughts on this, he’s welcome to do so. I am a paying participant on this workshop, not an organizer, so unfortunately my perspective is a bit limited. But from that limited perspective, I saw no selfishness on anyone’s part, and I feel confident that every other member of our group who was there in person would agree.
Anyway, this will probably be my last response here for a while as I take some time off to spend with my family. Not sure what else I would have to add.
The potential for landscape drone photography is amazing. I love the Liwa photo for the sheer drama – the video is mesmerizing, as clouds give way to beautifully lit sand dunes rolling beneath.
One question: both handheld and drone photography, do you ever use a polarized filter in hazy or glare situations?
Assalamu alaikum, Beck from Colorado here!
Inspired specifically by Nasim, my wife and I went to UAE, Oman, and Jordan 2 years ago. Really one of the most amazing journeys in our lives (still waiting for you guys to go to Cambodia and Angkor). So many photogenic places and people, and so friendly! I found black & white to be a great format when faced with an often monotone midday desert scene; lines, shadows, and mysteries can be revealed.
The SONY RX100 V is my tool because it gives me the quality/features for great photos and small size for spontaneity and easy packing.
Funny story, I got sooooo f*in sick in the UAE, perhaps it was MERS (camel milk ice cream in Dubai?) – regardless, illness is a big part of traveling. I keep a stash of Zithromax for antibacteria, but viruses…hey you gotta live life!
Final note: DO NOT put your sweet RAW shooting Olympus TOUGH into the Dead Sea; the salt and pressure are too much. Killed the camera, but the SD was intact.
Give a big “Marhaban” to all the folks in Jordan for us! Be sure to check out the Madaba Map – it is one of the greatest expressions of art, culture, and science in the world.
That’s gorgeous. What a morning for you guys! Glad you could fly the drone over something so spectacular.
Thank you, Sean, same here! Not many sand dunes in the US where you can fly a drone – most of them are in National Parks or other protected areas. The difference with the Liwa Desert (and the Empty Quarter Desert more generally) is that it’s simply huge. No one around for miles and miles on end. Worked out perfectly for photography.
When reality is magical. Supreme capture! You’re right to think this may be one of your favourites….it would be for most landscape photographers. Excuse me while I retrieve my jaw from the floor.
Why thank you, Jason! Sometimes conditions are just absolutely perfect, be it luck or anything else. This was definitely one of those mornings. Made my job as a photographer much easier :)
Incredible image! Thanks for sharing. Have a good and safe rest of the trip
Thank you, Adam!
Can’t imagine anything going on right now that would make this an unsafe time for travel…
In all seriousness, thankfully, Jordan and Turkey have not been hit much at all by coronavirus. UAE is a bit more, but still less than my hometown in the US. Go figure. Our group is being vigilant about hand-washing, and we’re also monitoring flights to make sure we get home on time. It does feel a bit surreal watching events on the news and being overseas for all of it, though.
I can imagine! Things around Colorado are really starting to shut down (schools, work, etc). Pretty unreal…
Crazy times. Colorado is my destination as well. I’m just hoping my return trip exists and is relatively smooth (and dang, is anyone still willing to drive at Uber/Lyft? Might need to find another way home from the airport…)
All the more reason to wash your hands, hoard some toilet paper, and binge watch all of our photography videos!