The Salar de Uyuni sits at 3,656 metres above sea level in the Bolivian altiplano, and at that altitude the atmosphere is thin enough that the night sky looks genuinely different from anything you see at sea level. There is no city light for hundreds of kilometres in any direction. On a clear night, the Milky Way is not a faint smear. It is a structure, dense and bright, arching across the entire sky. I have photographed night sessions at Uyuni in both wet and dry seasons and the quality of the darkness is unlike any other location I work in.

What the Night Sky Actually Looks Like

The Southern Hemisphere sky above Uyuni includes sections of the Milky Way that are not visible from the Northern Hemisphere, specifically the Galactic Centre, which is the densest part of the galaxy and the most visually extraordinary component of a long-exposure night sky photograph. It rises in the east over the salt flat and by midnight is directly overhead. Combined with the dry season salt flat’s white surface acting as a natural reflector for starlight, and the wet season’s mirror effect duplicating the stars below the couple’s feet, Uyuni delivers night sky conditions that I have not encountered anywhere else in my work as a photographer.

Milky Way arching over the Salar de Uyuni salt flat with stars reflecting in the wet season water below — The Galactic Centre above the Salar de Uyuni. This is the densest section of the Milky Way, visible only from the Southern Hemisphere. At 3,656 metres and hundreds of kilometres from the nearest city light, the structure is visible to the naked eye without any photographic enhancement.

How I Photograph Couples Under the Stars

Night photography at Uyuni requires a tripod, a wide-angle lens, and exposure times between fifteen and thirty seconds depending on the sky conditions and whether I want star trails or sharp points. Illuminating the couple during a thirty-second exposure requires a brief, controlled burst of light during the middle of the exposure. I use a low-power flash triggered remotely, typically at around 1/64th power, aimed at the couple from a low angle so it illuminates faces and upper bodies without washing out the sky above. The result is a frame where the couple is clearly lit, detailed, and expressive, and the stars are sharp points of light behind and above them. It takes several test exposures to calibrate the balance, and then the session runs for ninety minutes to two hours to capture the changing sky as the galaxy moves.

Couple illuminated during a long exposure night session on the Salar de Uyuni with Milky Way visible overhead — The night session balance: a brief burst of flash illuminates the couple during a twenty-second exposure while the stars accumulate in the sky above. The flash power is low enough that the couple reads as lit by starlight rather than a photographic strobe.

The Night Elopement Ceremony

Some couples hold the ceremony itself under the stars rather than earlier in the day. This is possible and the experience is genuinely extraordinary. Standing on the salt flat at midnight with no artificial light except what I am using to photograph, exchanging vows under the galaxy, is a ceremony context that is difficult to prepare people for and equally difficult to describe afterward. The temperature at midnight on the altiplano in dry season is well below freezing. Couples should plan warm clothing that photographs well and accept that the cold is part of the experience rather than a problem to eliminate. I have not had a couple regret doing this.