Finding Simple Compositions in the Sand Dunes | Minimalist Landscape Photography

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I enjoy shooting landscape images in the sand dunes. Once again, it was time to hit the road and explore a different set of sand dunes about 2 hours north of Perth, this time near Cervantes. For this adventure I was accompanied by fellow landscape photographer and YouTuber Richard Lefroy.

Check out Richard’s Channel –

Go here for Richard’s video of this trip –

We took some time to explore the sand dunes before the sunset. There wasn’t much in the way of clouds in the sky so it wasn’t going to be an epic sunset, but we weren’t going to let that stop us. The first composition that caught our eye because of the shapes and textures the sand was making. The direction of the sunlight had changed since I last photographed the sand dunes a few months earlier so I wasn’t getting such harsh contrast lines on the ridge of the dunes. As the light was more behind the camera the scene was more evenly lit or illuminated, so I didn’t need any filters.

Smoke from some controlled burning a few hundred kilometres to the east drifted into the scene above the dunes. If I was honest, I’d have preferred the smoke not to be there (I would have preferred some cloud), but the patterns of the smoke as it floated past matched in some way to the patterns and shapes the dunes were making. There wasn’ much I could do about it, so I just went with it.

To help simplify the composition, I left lots of room for the sky above the dunes, make the dunes the focus. So on the 17-35mm lens, I was at ISO 100, f-stop 8, which gave me a shutter speed on 1/200 of a second. The second composition was again looking at the lines of the dunes and coming into the frame from the left, which textures in the foreground and mirroring some of the patterns of the smoke. With the decreasing light, my shutter speed was down to 1/30 of a second.

After the sun had set, gorgeous pinks and blue hues started emerging around the horizon behind the dunes. These colours provided a lovely soft background to the scene. The next composition we found had a group of sticks in the foreground so I changed lenses to the 24-70mm and zoomed over the sticks to isolate a single dune which provided a beautiful single ’s’ curve which I positioned on the one-third vertical line on the left, slowing the shutter to 1/8 of a second.

Thanks to Andrew Dawes, landscape and travel photographer from Adventuring Two, who found these sand dunes.

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34 Comments
  1. welcome to our road trip says

    Andrew what’s the opening song?. I love your channel I watch everything you and Nigel Danson put out. I have also begun watching Richard he’s going to go places as will you I believe. Much love to you from cairns dreaming of WA. ❤️

  2. Sean Alegada says

    Good video I found sand dunes at San Diego Yuma I 8

  3. Ian Smissen Photography says

    Another great video Andrew – love the collaboration 🙂
    As always beautifully shot and some gorgeous images – the subtle hues are fantastic.
    Cheers, Ian

  4. Steve H says

    Beautiful dunes Andrew, and you got some pastel light to go with them. Next time I am in Perth, I'll check them out. Is the D850 much better than the D800? I still have my D800E, bidding my time on updating.

  5. CathyAnn says

    I love the simplicity of the dunes in your photos, Andrew. Outstanding!!!

  6. Walter Braun says

    Zohar is your approach to setting your white balance?

  7. Graeme Somerville says

    Hi Andrew. The cover photo really drew me in. I love shooting dunes (Death Valley) and it was great to see your vlog. Some lovely captures. I have subscribed and look forward to catching up on some of your other videos.

  8. Marcel Zwart says

    Wow, the dunes look just amazing. An absolutely fabulous location. Great images.

  9. Wayne Robertson Photography says

    Nice video Andrew, what an amazing place. I liked your compositions and the colours in the sky were so nice, well done.

  10. Booster31 says

    I really like those delicate colours. Nice job Andrew.

  11. Eli Salant says

    Great video Andrew, please can you share the exact location?

  12. ankur jhunjhunwala says

    Nice location and shots, Andrew!

  13. Shaw H. says

    Another lovely video Andrew. I especially loved the s-curve photo at around the 10m30s mark. Photographing sand dunes is high up on my bucket list!

  14. Brian Horsey says

    Intersting place, Andrew. We saw pleny of the white sand around Cervantes, it reminded us of the White Sands NP in New Mexico. It must be dunes week – as well as Richard's take on your trip, Steve Mattheis has just done a Youtube vid on some dunes in Idaho. Looking forward to seeing some of the astro-photography. The second image got my vote this time! Cheers.

  15. Adam Gibbs says

    What a lovely spot, thanks for showing us around Andrew!

  16. Mark Harris says

    For some reason YouTube hasn’t been giving me notifications from your channel, it’s happened with quite a few of the channels I watch.

    What a video for me to catch up with you again, absolutely stunning images and I’d be happy to see any of them on my wall. Great video, absolutely brilliant.

  17. runninblue says

    really nice to see your photography maturing beyond slow motion waves on rocks. this is beautiful work. as was your Iceland stuff. hope you get to travel more and continue developing 🙂

  18. Gareth Danks says

    Loved them images mate! Looks a crackin place! Would you say a polariser would help with the textures in that light? I’m wondering if it would cost you the contrast or enhance it 😊👍🏻

  19. Jim Hamilton says

    Enjoyed your video Andrew. I have also watched and enjoyed Richards channel.

  20. Canadian Sasquatch says

    Great stuff! Those images are looking nice! Cheers!

  21. Ben Horne says

    Looks a bit like Death Valley. 🙂 I really like how you were able to shoot the dunes with that final glow after sunset. That is some really sweet light. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

  22. Paul Bell says

    What a beautiful location for an excellent adventure Andrew. Your images were beautiful 🙂

  23. Tim Blake says

    Nice one Andrew. Simplicity is sometimes more. Personally, I think the smoke added to the images, but that's just my opinion

  24. MrFrankie1311 says

    Hey Andrew. Great video with awesome pictures! Congratulations….! 👍

  25. Mark Bowering Photography says

    Great video. Your final image was superb.

  26. Candice Watson says

    For me, sand dunes is one of the hardest things to shoot. I am going to Death Valley in Dec, and hopefully it will be better this time around. Great vid.

  27. Peter Biggin says

    I know we have some beautiful places in the UK but I wish we had a location like this Andrew. Would be great to shoot such pure clean images as yours. Really enjoyed this as always, thank you

  28. Ben Sly says

    I really enjoy your cinematography. Your choice of music matched with those beautiful drone shots are really nice

  29. Dimitar Kerezov says

    Another great video story from you Andrew i love it, especially the intro how you mixed the footage with the music. I can't wait till your next video. Keep doing so great job 😉

  30. Tony Turner says

    Fascinating video, Andrew. Love the way you describe your camera settings and thought processes. Keep up the excellent work.

  31. Soham Sajekar says

    Amazing stuff… Loved the simple compositions… Is the astrophotography part coming up next?.. I would love to see that as well ✌️

  32. Julian Baird Photography says

    Wow mate, just wow. What an amazing location with some quality images. Thanks for sharing! (Oh, loved the panorama!)

  33. First Man Photography says

    Lovely video Andrew with a nice relaxed mood. The dunes look amazing and seemed like less wind than last time. The images you took were beautiful, especially the shot with the pink hues and I hope we get to see the next stage of the adventure.

  34. Sayantan Mandal says

    great stuff as always Andrew.. the one with the S curve on the dune and the beautiful pastel colour sky is just gorgeous..thanks for sharing..

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