Category: Dunes

The Sands

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date September 19, 2014

One of the things that I look out for as I drive along the Southport coast road is an overcast sky. I know that beach goers tend to prefer sunshine, but my favourite images always include a cloudy sky. The darker sky allows the image to balance much more naturally, and even in daylight the result is pleasingly soft.

This is just a simple image with my usual components: marram in the foreground, sand, sea and sky beyond, each element drawing the eye further into the picture. Simple, but deliberately so.

Dunes Landscapes Southport

Soft and Serene Southport

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date April 11, 2014

It’s sometimes possible when editing photos on a computer to look too much at the histogram and not at the actual image. We can focus on highlights and blacks, and on getting a good spread of tones, which is all rather academic. What you really need to do is concentrate on the final image and how you see it. I loved the soft tones of the RAW image for this shot and decided to try and enhance the gentle tones and light…

Tags ainsdale, beach, coast, duneprints, landscape, marram, photography, seaside, sefton, southport

Dunes Landscapes Southport

The Fence and the Marram Grass

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date March 25, 2014

Seen at Ainsdale Beach, near Southport. The sun was just setting and the marram grass was blowing in the wind…

Dunes Landscapes Southport

Above the Fence

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date March 18, 2014

En-route to see a client yesterday I took my constitutional 5 minutes to stop at Ainsdale beach. There was total cloud cover and not a lot of light. I noticed a few gulls following the shore line so I went for a longer zoom to capture them flying above the fence line.

Tags ainsdale, beach, coast, dunes, fence, grass, landscape, marram, photography, seaside, sefton, southport

Dunes Landscapes Southport

Going, going … sunset at Ainsdale Beach

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date February 21, 2014

Another stop off at Ainsdale Beach on my way home, another sunset.

Tags ainsdale, beach, coast, dunes, landscape, marram, photography, seaside, sefton, southport

Dunes Landscapes Southport

High Key Sunset in Southport

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date February 15, 2014

High Key Sunset

This is another shot from my 2 minute dash to the dunes by the Lido at Ainsdale. Isn’t it strange, despite that fact that I wasn’t living in Southport when the Lido was the Lido, it’s still called that.

I like the soft and pale tones that I managed to capture in this shot – a little bit different from the usual heavily saturated sunset photos that you see. I think it captures the mood of the time. Soft and gentle rather than harsh light.

Tags ainsdale, beach, coast, duneprints, landscape, photography, sand, sea, sunset

Dunes Landscapes Southport

Half Way Gone – Ainsdale Beach Sunset

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date February 14, 2014

Ainsdale Beach Sunset

Driving back from an appointment in Formby the sun was sinking fast as I approached the Pontins roundabout. After a long day I was keen to get home, and the light was weak, not stunning. I decided to give it a chance and headed for the Lido car park. The wind was blowing the sand off the top of the dunes, I had to walk backwards over the crest. The light was poor, there was no time to get the tripod, so I upped the ISO and took a few shots. A lot of the shots were too slow, and blurred, but I managed to grab a couple of nice images. This Ainsdale Beach sunset shot was just as the sun was half way gone. The colours can go a bit strange at this time of the day, but I like the results…

Tags ainsdale, beach, coast, dune prints, dunes, dusk, landscape, marram, sefton, sunset

Dunes Landscapes Southport

Cloudscape with Marram

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date February 11, 2014

Cloudscape with Marram

You can’t beat the combination of seaside marram grass and clouds with a sliver of sea in between – a cloudscape with marram!

Tags ainsdale, beach, cloudscape, coast, dunes, grass, landscape, photography, sea, seascape, southport, water

Dunes Landscapes Southport

Less is More

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date October 18, 2013

Very often less is definitely more! When attempting to capture the essence of the Sefton coast I’ve tried to reduce the elements in the image to those most evocative of the scene. For me it is the marram grass edging the beach, with the sea and sky as a backdrop that is most distinctly our coast. In looking for the kind of image that I could hang on my wall I think that detail distracts, busyness makes for a restless image. In this case a simple image is more restful on the eye, and, I think, something that will endure as a pleasing image much longer than a typical beach scene full of activity and detail.

Tags coast, dunes, minimal, sefton, southport

Dunes Landscapes

Blowing in the Wind

Post author By Dune Prints
Post date August 12, 2013

I haven’t been down to the beach for ages, and certainly haven’t had time to take my tripod with me, but at long last I’ve got a long exposure shot of marram, sea and sky all in motion together…

Tags beach, exposure, long, long exposure, sand, sea, sky, water