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FollowOver three days we travelled across the Andean altiplano to cross from Chile into Bolivia. At the end we were greeted with a most spectacular sight - the Salar...
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Over three days we travelled across the Andean altiplano to cross from Chile into Bolivia. At the end we were greeted with a most spectacular sight - the Salar de Uyuni. At around 3700m elevation, the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt lake in the world, with amazing pentagonal and hexagonal ridges formed naturally from evaporating water during the wet season.
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Wanderer Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Walk 50 Steps and Shoot Photo Contest
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AlanJakarta
August 23, 2014
Fantastic shot of this awesome place. Congratulations on being Featured.
barbarabrock
August 23, 2014
I have a stamped concrete patio that looks like this! Awesome shot...!!
jamesvcase
August 23, 2014
stunning photo. interesting angle and the concept is awesome.. overall a great piece of work
sarahbernard
August 23, 2014
I dream of going there one day. Beautiful shot. Congratulations on the feature!
MindeyeVisual
August 24, 2014
I love very thing about this image, especially the depth of field, the people in it, and the tone. Keep up the good works.
philmit
August 30, 2014
This is a rare shot from above with the right conditions and natures gifts... Guessing its a chopper shot!
JoseV
October 16, 2014
This is one of those that make you appreciate vastness of our planet and how small we are. Nice...
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Behind The Lens
Location
Over three days we travelled across the Andean altiplano to cross from Chile into Bolivia. At the end we were greeted with a most spectacular sight - the Salar de Uyuni. At around 3700m elevation, the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt lake in the world, with amazing pentagonal and hexagonal ridges formed naturally from evaporating water during the wet season. This particular image was taken on the outskirts of the salt flat, on our way between Fish Island and the city of Uyuni which sits just outside the lake.Time
The photo was taken at midday.Lighting
The lighting was straight forward - it was midday, so the sun was in full force. I simply positioned the drone with the sun directly behind to enhance the shadows and maintain symmetry as much as possible in the patterns formed by the evaporated salt.Equipment
This was an unusual one in terms of setup, but very simple overall. The photograph was taken on a GoPro Hero 3 Black on a DJI Phantom 2 Multirotor Drone with a Zenmuse H3-2D gimbal for stabilisation and remote control.Inspiration
The patterns and symmetry in the shapes left behind on the salt flat by the evaporated salt were mind blowing. I thought that an aerial shot would be the perfect way to show their scale and intricacy, and introduced a human element to show scale.Editing
I use Lightroom for post-processing. I increased clarity and sharpness to make the patterns more distinct, modified the tone curve and used the GoPro lens profile to take away some of the distortion from the lens.In my camera bag
I was backpacking at the time through South America for six months, we spent half the time in Patagonia, before heading up into the Andean Altiplano (where this photo was taken) then down into the Amazon and then along the pacific side of the Andes through Bolivia and Peru. Given this, packing was a little difficult, but I still managed to fit quite a lot of gear in! Of course when backpacking every item comes at the expense of something else; in this case, I didn't have many clothes haha. The kit was actually oriented more towards filming than photography! Probably the most important part was actually my backpack - a Tasmanian Tiger 85L backpack. Without that it would have been a nightmare carrying so much gear around! As it was, it basically all fit in the single pack. In terms of DSLR gear, a Canon 6D with Magic Lantern installed, along with a 70-200mm f2.8, 24-70mm f4, 100mm f2.8 Macro, 50mm f1.4 and 14mm f2.8. Then there were the associated tools such as a 15" MacBook Pro, tripod, Konovo 80cm slider, DIY timelapse slider motor (see http://askdesign.it/weblog/slider) and some Ciesta padded lens bags. On top of this there was the Phantom 2 drone with gimbal and the GoPro Hero 3 for underwater and aerial shots.Feedback
The multirotor drone opens up a whole new world of photographic opportunities, although I do think that it is video where they shine even more so. Drones are really coming of age and their development as consumer products has come in leaps and bounds in recent years. The increase in their abilities has been matched by huge price drops - they are now affordable, accessible and easy to use. And of course they open up a world of new opportunities and angles - I strongly encourage everyone to try one out! If you want a little taste of getting your feet wt with drones, I wrote about my first week of use here: http://askdesign.it/weblog/2014/3/21/phantom2intro.