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Photographing sand dunes

Lesson 37 from: Masters of Photography

Albert Watson

Photographing sand dunes

Lesson 37 from: Masters of Photography

Albert Watson

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Lesson Info

37. Photographing sand dunes

How did Albert capture the breathtaking, rippling sand dunes of Laayoune, Morocco? Find out as Albert encourages you to be innovative; to always strive to add something new and different to scenes photographed by others before you.

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Meet your Master

01:26
2

Learn from the journey

15:24
3

Using inspirations

08:43
4

Photography is stopping time

09:27
5

Albert's library of ideas

08:30
6

Tips on preparing for a portrait shoot

12:10
7

Setting up the studio

04:56
8

Understanding studio collaboration

07:35
9

The importance of casting and hair & make-up

08:59
10

Foreground studio set up

08:46
11

Studio session with a model - set up 1

11:23
12

Studio session with a model - set up 2

05:55
13

Studio session with a model - set up 3

08:01
14

Picking the best shot

03:36
15

Working with photoshop

13:14
16

Creating a portrait of Alfred Hitchcock

04:18
17

The gigantic question... Colour or black and white?

07:55
18

One day with Kate Moss

05:06
19

Learn to have your ideas ready

06:14
20

Using Polariods

06:29
21

Creating beautiful photographs of hands

04:45
22

Controlling natural light

05:38
23

Shooting a monkey with a gun

06:27
24

Choosing your format

07:13
25

Composition and lens

04:47
26

Shooting landscapes. The Isle of Skye

15:18
27

Planning and ideas for a landscape shoot

06:32
28

Creating still life images

13:48
29

Photographing the Lost Diary

10:53
30

Shooting album covers

03:09
31

The Strip Search Project

10:28
32

Shooting Las Vegas landscapes

08:24
33

Photographing Breaunna

07:21
34

Balancing daylight, God bless America

03:45
35

Creating the Maroc Project

10:21
36

Creating the Maroc shoot

08:11
37

Photographing sand dunes

04:09
38

Photographing Moroccan children

10:42
39

Advice on making portraits

10:12
40

How to be alert to finding photographs

07:35
41

Making a portrait of Mike Tyson

02:39
42

Creating intense colour in a photograph

03:04
43

Portraits of rap stars and a Golden Boy

08:40
44

Photographing Jack Nicholson

04:20
45

Creating a portrait of David Cronenberg

02:14
46

How to light only using two $10 bulbs

07:29
47

Studio fashion set up 4

10:47
48

Studio session with a model. The geography of a face

13:05
49

Look inside the picture

02:56
50

Creating memorability in an image

02:54
51

Combining nudes and landscapes

04:52
52

A perfect print

07:50
53

The business side of things

06:50
54

Conclusion and farewell

03:55

Lesson Info

Photographing sand dunes

(drumming music) There's a wonderful place in the South of Morocco, the deep South of Morocco, heading towards Mauritania, and it's called Laayoune. And it's.. really a strangely.. mysterious place, and it's right in the Sahara, but on the coast, and it's full of women who were wearing saris. So when you first get there you think you've moved to India. And it's kind of an empty place, it has a strange eerie quality about it. And just outside the town of Laayoune, you immediately hit just the Sahara, and the classic sand dunes of the Sahara. Now, with the graphics training that I have, photographing sand dunes is maybe one of the easiest things that, you know, you could possibly do, because sand dunes look pretty good first thing in the morning, the middle of the day, and at the end of the day. They do look particularly good when the sun is going down, and the sand dunes are cross lit, and you see all the ripples of the sand. And sand dunes are one of these rather easy things to photo...

graph, where you don't have to do a lot. You don't have to sweat too much, and what really comes into play is a graphic sensibility. And a weirdness of composition. So, I knew that they would be pretty easy to photograph, there's a lot of photographers that photograph sand dunes. And, you know, when you approach something like that as you look at the history of photographing sand dunes, and you kind of say "Can I make mine look a little "bit different?", so you have to try and find something a little bit more unusual, a little bit more mysterious. Can you make the picture feel.. Can you feel the wind that's in the pictures? That's blowing the sand. And how can you make this, these picture more powerful and more memorable as always, and more mysterious. So, that was my plan when I was doing just the sand dunes. Of course I was photographing the people of Laayoune, and also the Sahara Weese who are nomads that live in the desert as well. So all of these kinds of things you keep in mind when you approach it. You think about the people when you're photographing sand dunes, and you think about the sand dudes when you're photographing the people. When you're photographing sand dunes and there's a selection of lenses, a lot of things work. You can actually photograph sand dunes with wide-angle lenses, or you can actually do with a, I think a long telephoto lens doesn't work as well, but I'm sure with some work you find a shot. I like standard lens sometimes to photograph sand dunes. There's something beautiful in that. The most, maybe a 180 millimeter lens. A little bit of, and I'm talking Hasselblad lenses here. When I did that project with the sand dunes, I was kind of sad that on that trip I didn't have my four-by-five camera, because I did see some possibilities by using a slightly larger format there, you know. But it was windy, and when you get deplete cameras, wind can sometimes be really.. A problem, you know, with cameras. And of course, there, sand was also a problem. Because the sand is everywhere. And, sand is.. You see it, but you also don't see the dust of the sand, which is another layer, and of course the equipment just was, had to be continually cleaned, every night. My assistant spent at least an hour cleaning equipment at the end of every day when it was down there, because the dust was just really, really difficult. (drumming music)

Ratings and Reviews

Richard A. Heckler
 

"Unless you're Mozart"...this course is an invaluable asset. I'm a pro, humanitarian/documentary photographer, & wilderness...and I've learned much from the 40+ sessions here. This is truly a Master Class...next best thing to being with Albert. And although I could watch studio sessions forever, this course offered a very balanced curriculum of technical information, artistic encouragement and guidance, and a open, generous window into the thinking of a gifted artist and photographer, sifted from decades of first class experience. Kudos to all involved. Excellent!

a Creativelive Student
 

I purchased my first CreativeLive class in 2011 and have continued to purchase many classes over the years. I have learned so much from the many great instructors. This one is not a technical class that will tell you to set your camera at f4, 1/60, ISO 400 and you can get this shot. If you are looking for that, there are many other options. If you have a solid working knowledge of photography, this class is so much more. The way it was filmed is like you are there with him in conversation or in the room with him watching him shoot. To see and understand the how and why he does what he does. Not to take anything away from other classes that have helped to give me a strong understanding of photography, this is my favorite CreativeLive class so far.

Student Work

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