PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY IN DUBAI

Dubai is the most structured emirate to shoot in. Since a 2014 decree the Dubai Film and TV Commission has been the single authority for filming permits here, applications are made through a UAE-licensed production company rather than by the client directly, and where a script is required it is approved before the permit is issued and cannot then be changed. That sounds restrictive and in practice it is the opposite — the process is predictable, which is why Dubai schedules hold.

Dubai is known for the densest concentration of recognisable backdrops in the region, and the shortest distance between completely different looks — skyline, desert, marina and old-town are all inside an hour of each other. Technically it means high-contrast light for most of the year, with glass towers producing strong reflected fill in the late afternoon and genuinely harsh overhead sun between roughly 11am and 3pm.

Hotel and resort property, private villas, studio space, waterfront promenades, desert conservation areas and licensed public locations.

Traffic is the scheduling constraint rather than distance. A cross-city move that takes 25 minutes at 10am takes well over an hour at 5pm, so shot lists are sequenced by geography rather than by storyboard order.