Uyuni Salt Flats Photos

Uyuni, Bolivia

If you’ve never photographed at the Uyuni Salt Flats, pull up your bucket list and sit down for this one. Bolivia has a lot to offer travelers, but the salt flats are by far my favorite to photograph.

I include some tips for shooting on the salt flats at the end of this post!

Before our move to Amsterdam in 2023, we spent four months traveling South America, and the cherry on top of our trip was the Uyuni Salt Flats. We had spent around two weeks in Cochabamba and a couple of days in La Paz, and we were already very impressed with Bolivia by this point.

Located at nearly 12,000 ft above sea level, the Uyuni salt flats will undoubtedly take your breath away. After a full day riding the bus coming from La Paz (with two toddlers, this was no easy travel day), a tour on the salt flats was exactly what we needed. Our friends had joined us our last week in Bolivia, and Rachel agreed to model for me again. (See our first photoshoot together at Castle de Haar.) She curled her hair in my long wool socks the night before, and we tried on dresses that morning before our salt flat tour.

After a couple of hours driving around the Uyuni salt flats, our tour guide took us to this special spot at sunset. Even though it was the dry season due to El Niño, it had rained a couple of days before and the water had pooled in this spot on the salt flats.

It was magical.

There’s no other way to put it. It was like being on another planet, like being on one of Jupiter’s moons that’s made of ice. The salt stretched in all directions. If you walked far enough away from everyone else, all sound faded away completely.

Tips for Shooting On Salt Flats

1. Bring a lens shade. Photographing on the salt flats means light is coming at you from all directions, even when you’re backlit. Especially before sunset, the white salt bounces light from the sun back up at your subject.
2. Have your subject wear pastels. Now I normally recommend pastels because light colored fabrics flatter skin tones and keep color casting to a minimum. But, on the salt flats, when you have uncontrolled, unfiltered light that’s insanely bright, pastels are a life saver.
3. Don’t forget to back up more than you usually would at take reflections into account.
4. Bring your own flowers for a pop of color! I sent my husband out to the market for flowers before our tour.
5. Consider footwear. This is where I messed up. We just assumed she’d go barefoot, but we didn’t take into account the water pools filled with incredibly salty water that was at least three inches deep in places. Waterproof boots were needed.
6. Consider the temperature. Now, the sunlight does warm you up, but 12,000 ft in the air cools things off a bit. We were definitely chilled when the sun went down, and my oldest child stayed in the car to watch the sunset because he was so cold.
7. And my last tip is to get your photo made as well! Especially if you travelled all the way to Bolivia, don’t forget to hand the camera to someone else (my husband, in my case). Your memories are important too!

Sim Sawyers is a motherhood photographer living in Amsterdam, Netherlands with her husband and two sons. If you’d like to book a session, please reach out via the book form on the website or directly via email at simsawyersphotography@gmail.com.