Photo of the Day

trees at the bottom of a sand dune
November 5, 2015

Shifting Light

Your Shot member Hamed Tabein made an early morning trek to the desert, just east of Esfahan in Iran, to capture this shot of the smoothed sand and a hardy little stand of trees that has managed to grow in a hollow between sand dunes. “[This photo was taken] at around 7 a.m.,” Tabein says. “It's an extraordinary place for landscape photography. I went there before sunrise, and as the sun came up I started [photographing] because of the best light and sand texture ... Two hours after sunrise you cannot see anything except the sand, without any texture and contrast. It would be just a washed-out picture.”

This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now >>

Photograph by Hamed Tabein, National Geographic Your Shot
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