How to Photograph a Desert Vacation

We are very fortunate to live in the United States where we have two oceans, numerous lakes and mountains and a variety of desert areas. Taking a vacation to the desert is fun any time, but extra fun in the spring and fall when you may have an opportunity to see the desert in bloom. The best photographic opportunities exist at dusk and dawn when the sun is not too strong. This is also fortunate because being in the desert at high noon is something you should avoid for your own health. The desert sun is strong and very bright making pictures with strong contrast ratios and deep shadows. So take a lot of water for you and extra batteries and media cards for your camera and follow some of these techniques for desert picture taking.

Things You'll Need

• A digital camera
• Extra batteries and media cards
• A lot of water

Instructions

1. 

   People think of deserts as being devoid of life, yet nothing is further from the truth. Eagles, snakes, lizards, condors and hummingbirds are just a few of the animal species you can hunt with your camera in the desert. To find the wildlife, just find the water. There are some desert areas like Death Valley that have very little water. This photograph was taken at Indian Canyons in California where even in the summer you can find water. Water means there is vegetation, and with vegetation you will find wildlife.

2. 

   The strong sun allows you to take pictures of objects with a large depth of field. It is ideal for taking pictures of textured objects like these rocks. There are a lot of different textures in the desert. Set your F-Stop to F-16 or smaller to increase the depth of field which allows you to get sharp focus across and through the textured object. You will have plenty of light and still be able to take pictures like this one without a tripod to steady the camera.

3. 

   Driving through the desert will enable you to see a lot of unusual sights that you don't see in other parts of the country. Outside Palm Springs we saw large dinosaur statues near a rundown gas station. They were abandoned and just sitting there. I still don't know why.

4. 

   Further down the road we saw miles of wind farms like the one in the photo. The turbines are huge and on one part of Route 10 the road leads through a pass with huge wind mills on both sides of the highway. It was great to see thousands of wind mills, but distracting when driving since they are so mesmerizing to watch.

5. 

   The shadows are very strong in the desert, so try to use the shadows to help tell your story. Make sure the shadow doesn't dominate the image and also make sure the detail in the shadow is not important to the image. The shadows are so strong that it will be difficult to see detail in the shadow

6. 

   Try using skylight filters on your lenses. The desert, even the high desert, is a dusty place and usually windy. Skylight filters will protect your lenses from sand damage. You can also try using a polarizing filter for some images. The polarizing filter is used to enhance or eliminate reflections from glass and metal. It can also be used to darken the sky. The image on the right was taken with a polarizing filter and the image on the left only with a skylight filter.

7. 

   Try taking some pictures of the unusual plants and trees you may see in the desert. This is a picture of Joshua trees taken at Joshua Tree National Park. Like the saguaro cactus of Arizona, the Joshua tree is something you can only see in a limited geography, and thus makes a unique picture from your visit.

8. 

   The desert is a great place for sunset and sunrise pictures. This time of day is so beautiful; it is real easy to just snap away and have a lot of pictures of the same thing. Don't forget to compose your picture and maybe include some subject other than the sunset to make it unique.

Tips & Warnings

• Clean your camera every day when you are done using it. Make sure you remove the lens and clean it thoroughly, since sand can get into everything.

• Take extra batteries and media cards.

• Read you manufacturer's recommendations for exposing your camera to high heat.

• The desert is hot; heat drains batteries and is not good for digital cameras. Don't leave your camera in the car when you stop for lunch and don't ever leave it in direct sunlight. Turn it off when you are not using it.