Sand Dunes Photography

Dunes are pure shape and shadow. In the right light, a few ridges and ripples make a complete photograph.

Light is everything

Dunes need low side-light to show form. In the hour after sunrise and before sunset, ridgelines separate into bright and dark sides and ripples cast tiny shadows. At midday the same dunes look flat and featureless. Check the sun's direction relative to the main ridges with the sun path diagram.

Where

• Great Sand Dunes National Park (Colorado): the tallest dunes in North America under the Sangre de Cristo peaks; also a certified dark sky park.
• White Sands National Park (New Mexico): brilliant gypsum dunes that glow at sunset.
• Death Valley's Mesquite Flat and Eureka Dunes (California).
• Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park (Utah).

Browse all sand dunes locations.

Composition

• Follow S-curves and ridgelines with a telephoto.
• Use ripples as leading lines with a wide lens close to the sand.
• Include a person on a ridge for scale.
• Black and white emphasizes shape — see the B&W guide.

Footprints

Walk along ridgelines and troughs rather than across smooth faces, and arrive early: overnight wind usually erases yesterday's tracks.

Heat and sand

Dune surfaces get extremely hot in summer afternoons. Carry plenty of water. Wind-blown sand damages gear: avoid lens changes in the wind, use a blower (not a cloth) on lenses and keep the camera in a bag between shots.