Dust in the wind

[Kyle_Kephart]

I climbed up one of the taller dunes in the area as the sun began to set on a very windy afternoon. I felt like I had been in a sand blaster for the last hour, but I was stubborn enough to stick it out for one more shot. This ended up being the most productive outing on my spring trip!

Specific Feedback Requested

Is the composition too heavy on the foreground? I leaned into the s-curve shape to hold the structure of the image, but it does feel dark compared to the backlit background that is airy. I tried to balance it a bit with a gradient adjustment. However, it still feels dark and I don’t want to do too much to it in post.

Technical Details

Single image processed in Lightroom with basic adjustments for the most part.

[David_Bostock]

Hi Kyle, for me, the background is not essential to the scene, so having the foreground darker/more contrasty is fine. If you wanted to darken the background, you could use a color picker and select the blues/magentas, then darken them, but again, not needed in my view.

I do think you could crop from the bottom, up to the blowing sand highlight on the right side. To me, it helps with the balance of the scene. Just a thought.

Great image and nice work braving the sandblasting.

[David_Johnston]

Hey Kyle! I love a good dune photo with wind. There’s just something about the power that the photo creates. This is really well composed. I think the s curve is solid and something that is usually a great shape to use for directing people where to look in the photo. Typically in a photo like this I’d say to leave more room to breathe in the top of the frame above the dune, but I think for this photo in particular you’ve left a good amount of space. Why is that? I feel like the texture and light in the background would take away and distract from the dune. So, all that being said, I think you nailed this one!

[Kyle_Kephart]

@David_Bostock

… foreground darker/more contrasty is fine. If you wanted to darken the background, you could use a color picker and select the blues/magentas, then darken them, but again, not needed in my view.I do think you could crop from the bottom, up to the blowing sand highlight on the right side. To me, it helps with the balance of the scene. Just a thought.Great image and nice work braving the sandblasting.

Thank you, good to know the dried out skin and dust-filled lungs was worth it. I like the crop idea! It feels more cramped though when I actually make the adjustment. I would have loved for it to work coming out of the LRC but I don’t like the slightly panoramic look or cropping in at all. I shot it too tight for much adjusting. A flaw I have in how I shoot in order to make up for an older camera with only 24 mp to work with in post.

[Kyle_Kephart]

@David_Johnston

… use for directing people where to look in the photo. Typically in a photo like this I’d say to leave more room to breathe in the top of the frame above the dune, but I think for this photo in particular you’ve left a good amount of space. Why is that? I feel like the texture and light in the background would take away and distract from the dune. So, all that being said, I think you nailed this one!

Thank you David! I really appreciate the feedback on the composition. I can be harsh on my own images sometimes even if I like the end result.

[Matt_Payne]

@Kyle_Kephart

Is the composition too heavy on the foreground?

As soon as I saw the image I thought the foreground was a bit too dominating without much visual interest. Perhaps a crop would help, like 16x9?

[Kyle_Kephart]

I think it helps the image, but I struggle with that ratio. It feels like it is awkward whenever I see it like it isn’t quite panoramic like I would intentionally shoot 2x1 or greater ratio.