Photographing dunes can be a very effective photographic endeavor if you see a stretch of desert far enough away that not every inch of it is covered in footprints. In this article, I show you my favorite dune photography locations and I give tips on how to get the most out of this sand subject.
The United States has its fair share of spectacular dune fields. You can also find them in South America – Huacachina is an example. If you think about Asia, you probably think of the Gobi Desert, and for the Middle East, the Empty Quarter. For Africa, the Namib desert and the Sahara desert sound familiar. For Europe, on the other hand, there aren’t that many dunes, which I should say is a positive in the context of climate change.
But as a landscape photographer, I was still looking for a sandy landscape to photograph not far away. I found it in Morocco, just a 3 hour flight from central Europe. It has two large dune fields. Some of you will have heard of Erg Chebbi near Merzouga. You can reach it from Marrakesh by car in about nine hours via the Dadés gorge or by bus in two days via Casablanca. There you’ll find hotels close enough to the dunes that you can walk right into the desert. For a unique experience, you can stay at one of the Berber camps in the desert. It will increase your chances of finding a perspective for yourself.
Erg Chigaga
When I visited Morocco for the first time in 2019, I wanted to be more away from civilization. After some research, I learned that besides Erg Chebbi, there is a desert near the southern border of Morocco called Erg Chigaga. It has an area of about 35 x 15 km, can only be reached by 4×4 car and does not have a hotel. If you decide to visit Erg Chigaga, you will usually stay at one of the Berber camps in the area.
When planning my trip to Erg, my first goal is to find the right campsite. There are a number of options, but not every option is in a position where you can step out of your tent and start taking pictures. I was looking for a campground near some of the larger dunes, so I could walk there to watch the sunrise and sunset. On Google Earth, I tried to identify the best camps – you can actually spot them if you zoom in close enough.
By the way, I found the camp Al Koutban. It’s right in the middle of the dunes, with Erg Chigaga’s highest dune just a 45-minute walk away. You usually book a tour that has a stop or two on the way there. I did the same with Wild Moroccoand I loved the experience so much that I returned to do a photography workshop with them in early 2020.
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I haven’t been back since. But I can’t wait to go back to the desert in the future. Especially if you don’t like crowded areas, then this is the right place to be. There’s nothing like sitting on top of a secluded dune, looking out over the surrounding sandy sea and listening to the whisper of the wind.
How to take photos of Sand Dunes
The best way to photograph the desert is to find a high vantage point that gives you a 360° view of the surrounding landscape. That’s also why I chose Al Koutban camp. It is surrounded by some tall sand dunes, which I would climb every sunrise and sunset to find my subject.
Shooting from a high vantage point allows you to point your camera downwards and cover less of the sky on the cloudless days you normally come in the desert. Find a ridge and use it as a guide to guide the viewer down to the sea of sand. When the light hits that ridge from the side, you get a beautiful play of light and shadow that keeps the viewer hooked.
To unlock the full photographic potential of a desert like Erg Chigaga, you should also have a long lens in your arsenal. Zooming in on the distant sand dunes, you’ll find loads of objects. You can completely exclude the sky and fill your frame with just the forms and shapes around you. As you do this, try to find large dunes that might be your main subject and balance them out with similar smaller dunes in the distance. It creates depth in such a photo.
The best light for dune photography is right after sunrise and before sunset. When the sun is near the horizon, its light only kisses the top of the dunes. It creates nice lines and simplifies the scene by bringing in darker areas with less detail. You can use this light by shooting at an angle to the sun, as in the example above, or you can point your camera directly in its direction for more drama.
If you’re lucky and the layer of haze above the landscape isn’t thick enough to swallow the sun before it dips behind the horizon, you can also experience the desert turning red just before sunset.
It is magical to witness this color change while the shadow grows longer and longer. But it doesn’t have to stop there. The great thing about remote places like Erg Chigaga is the lack of light pollution. That’s why you shouldn’t pack up right after sunset. If you wait for about 90 minutes, you will be able to experience the night sky that you can only find in a few other places.
If you decide to photograph the night sky in the desert, you have to be careful. Navigating the dunes during the day is already difficult, but after sunset you will quickly lose all orientation. To be safe, stay close enough to the campsite so you don’t get lost. In addition, you should also mark your camp and photo location on Google Maps. It will help you find your way in the dark. If you are going to explore further areas, having a guide may be the best option.
Nomads and Dromedaries
Many camps in Erg Chigaga work alongside the nomads who live in the area. During your stay, you are usually offered a camel ride. The nomads would then go to the camps and offer guided camel tours of various sunset sites. I don’t like riding camels, but I wanted to photograph a nomad with his caravan in golden light.
On my second visit to the Al Koutban camp, Wild Morocco arranged this for me and my workshop participants. It was an unforgettable experience and we were able to take some amazing desert photos. Achieving such images requires planning. If you have ever visited Erg Chigaga and had the opportunity to take such pictures, look for both the ridges you want the caravan to pass through and the vantage point from which you will photograph it.
I wanted to exclude the sky in those photos, so I had to find a lookout point in the dunes higher than the ridge that Mohamed and his captors were supposed to hike that evening. there. I also used PhotoPills during tracking to help me visualize where the sun will be during the shoot and predict the direction of shadows in the final images.
Desert photo editing
Even in a place as remote as Erg Chigaga, you will encounter footprints in the sand. After days without wind, the people at the various camps will make trails through the desert during their exploration. To avoid those, you will have to dig deeper and deeper into Errors or use the editing techniques I shared in previous article. The combination of cloning and frequency splitting will usually do the trick and can be useful for any fine structure you want to clean.
