It was a journey together with the 24six9 business community. Entrepreneurs from Dubai and Abu Dhabi traveled to the Northern Tropic deep in the desert at night in July. The journey itself was not long: only 3 hours one way, but was complicated by unlit roads and travel on the way to the Nothern tropic itself.
This is how performed Sony a7c ISO: 800, f2.8, Shutter speed 1/40
If you also want to visit this place on the map you can find it right here: Go to Goole Maps
Still, what was the process of shooting the night sky in the UAE desert like?
First I decided to shoot the stars above to see what shutter speed was needed to get enough light and not get a trace from the stars.
It turned out that 20 seconds at ISO 2500 was quite enough with an open shutter speed. Unfortunately, my widest lens is a Zeiss 35mm 2.8. However, the atmosphere proved to be too dusty. So I don't recommend summer in the desert for night sky photography.
You can see in the photo below that only the third photo shows the Milky Way well. Let's use this as a starting point
How to compose in such a dusty atmosphere?
The solution was the horizon and objects. It was not in vain that we were shaking in the car for 3 hours one way, including wandering through the desert in search of a place far enough from the road. Spoiler, in the dusty atmosphere you can see how settlements 50 kilometers away glow.
Above you can see that we fumbled as the Milky Way rests against the horizon. A power pole turned out to be a great subject to frame. No, it's not sunset, it's deep night, about 2am. The glowing spots are the city in the distance.
Time to experiment with objects
We tried it with people and a BMW3. It turned out interesting. Sergei and Alexander Ivanov from BantGO (Top ESG Startups by PWC) helped me. We turned the lights on and off in the car to find the best combination. I think this was a great example of how a car in a desert environment becomes a spaceship.
Alexander Ivanov
Car with trace of another car on a background
My favorite with reflexes on the doors
As well as lucky shots of the sky
I would like to post below a photo of our company of travelers from 24six9.
The photo on the left was illuminated through the car's emergency flashing light. The photo on the right using 1 flash on an Iphone 11. The colors turned out more natural on the right. Since the emergency light is too yellow.
