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Al Madam

Al Madam is a small town located in the Sharjah Emirate of the United Arab Emirates. It is known for its stunning desert landscapes and traditional architecture, making it a popular destination for photographers. The town is surrounded by vast sand dunes, which provide a perfect backdrop for capturing the beauty of the desert. Additionally, Al Madam is home to several historic buildings, including the Al Madam Fort, which dates back to the 19th century. Photographers can also explore the nearby Al Qudra Lakes, which offer a serene setting for capturing wildlife and stunning sunsets. Overall, Al Madam is a must-visit destination for photographers looking to capture the beauty of the UAE's desert landscapes and traditional architecture.

VAE 598
by Daniel Cheong

LARGE View

Here is one of the shot I did during Paul's (Panorama_Paul) visit in Dubai. The program started very well in the late morning with a 30 minutes helicopter flight! Unfortunately the weather was too hazy, all my shots are basically ruined. Paul might have some better shots (when I checked on his camera's LCD). I also got some nasty reflections because of shooting through the glass. But it's quite amazing to see Dubai from a bird's eyes point of view! I hope Paul can post some of his aerial shots, they really looked better than mine. Also I decided to use my 17-50mm in case I wanted to zoom in, it was a bad choice. I should have gone for the 11-16mm (Paul used his 10-20mm).

After the helicopter trip, we headed to the small town of Hatta near the Oman border (150 kms from Dubai), to see some water pools carved in rocks. The water level was quite low because it didn't rain much, but sadly it was a place full of garbage floating around and graffitis on the rocks.... Not a very appealing place, because of human stupidity.

Then we headed back to Dubai and stopped before sunset in the desert where I took this shot. Again, because of the haze, the light was low and the sun was barely visible, total lack of colors and contrasts.

So basically, you will not get our best shots from this trip because of the weather conditions! Nevertheless, I had a great time seeing and chatting with Paul again since my last visit to South Africa in August last year.

For this shot, I had to process it a lot to get some colors, contrast and blue sky, because the original looks terribly dull. The sky is real though, I just used Adobe Camera Raw to change the white balance to fluorescent, increased the blacks, boosted a lot the clarity, vibrance and saturation. No Digital Blending used here, it is a vertorama made with two single exposures. I wanted to post the original exposure but then I was worried that you might think I am cheating too much with Photoshop! ;-)

I am lagging behind visiting your streams. My apologies but I have been quite busy at work since I came back from Istanbul.