Photographing Florida’s Hidden Sand Dunes in Anastasia State Park
- Paul Farace Photography
- Jun 17
- 5 min read
Capturing the perfect scene over Florida's hidden dunes requires the right blend of composition, timing, and gear. Can we make it happen in the Anastasia State Park Sand Dunes?
In this landscape photography trip, we head off the beaten path in Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine, Florida to explore secret coastal sand dunes and break down exactly how to photograph them from golden hour through the blue hour.
If you would like to watch me walk through each photo, including my camera settings, and go over tons of tips for photographing the sand dunes in Florida check out the linked video below.
Watch the full video: Photographing Florida’s Hidden Sand Dunes at Sunset
Watch as I share my step by step process, show each photo example, and use the versatile Tamron 28-75mm lens to capture stunning dynamic range, front to back focus and textures in the sand. We also capture a 12 shot panoramic photo during sunset. I hope you enjoy!
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I thought I would be able to hike 2 or 3 miles with my recent injury. It's been almost 3 weeks after all....Well with that heavy camera bag, 2 cameras, 3 lenses, 2 tripods and more accessories than one man should carry...I quickly found out I pushed it a little too far, too fast. I am feeling much better, but that long hike in sand with the heavy bag did not help at all! It was totally worth it though because I love the photos I got and blue hour ended up being perfect for these dunes.
I arrived to the dunes around 7 PM giving me about an hour and a half until sunset. As mentioned in the video I came here recently just to shoot photos and keep thing easy on myself, but loved this specific spot so much I came back to shoot this video. I was also using my telephoto (Tamron 70-300) and wanted to come back and use my Tamron 28-75mm to give me more depth of field for the specific focus stack shot I had in mind. The great light was a bonus!
With the light still a bit too high for my liking I started working on my composition which was a minimal scene of the white sand and ridges creating an "S" curve. I began slowly tweaking and inching forward trying not to put too many footprints in the foreground, just in case I needed to back up some. I ended up liking both horizontal and vertical compositions of the image I was after. So I decided to shoot both and compare back home.
After a short while the light got just right and I was able to capture both versions. As the sun came down there were long shadows being cast across the scene from wooden posts far out of frame to the left. I cloned out the shadows in the vertical version, but I left them in for the horizontal. Let me know which one you prefer in the comments!
While I was setting up my video camera to record the clips discussing the previous image my eye caught a great scene. Up a bit higher on top of one of the smaller dunes was a great view for a panoramic shot of the landscape. Golden side light was washing over the dunes and emphasizing the textures and ridges. I took 12 vertical photos to make sure I had plenty of overlap to get a great final crop. Check out the video to see the individual frames and full panoramic stitch of the scene. Here is my final crop and edit of the image.
As the sun came down it seemed like the light was getting even better. Some wispy clouds began to move in over the east dunes and started to catch pink hues against the blue hour sky. It created a very calm and serene scene. The pastel colors and the crisp white sand created an amazing soft color contrast.
It looked absolutely amazing this evening and I am sure glad I didn't pack up early for the long hike back. I went to my initial composition with the beautiful S curve and included the sky and sea grass for an overall capture. I think the full shot during blue hour is my favorite from this trip. The composition, light and subject all came together.
Using a black and white treatment on this dune scene can really bring out the textures and light.
And I took one more shot for good measure! I never know when to stop lol. It was nearly dark out by this time, but there was still some beautiful last light catching the dunes. Pointing my camera closer towards the sun we captured this amazing orange light washing over the northern dunes. It was a very peaceful evening. At this point I broke out my coffee thermos and just enjoyed the last minutes of the evening.
I think I stayed about as long as I could unless I wanted to start shooting night photography. With these summer days so long it's tough to shoot both sunset and sunrise. You don't get back until 10 PM sometimes and then to catch sunrise you have to be back up by 4am to head out. Sometime in between there you have to drop your data, reformat cards, charge batteries, eat, shower and somehow wind down to get some sleep. Recently I have been shooting nothing but sunrise and it was nice to get out for a great sunset on the dunes. Now that storm season is here in Florida I think I need to adjust back to sunsets for a while.
I hope you enjoyed the photos and story of my trip to Anastasia State Park sand dunes! Drop a comment and let me know your favorite image for this trip! Have you been here before?
Watch the full video & subscribe: Photographing Florida’s Hidden Sand Dunes at Sunset
Looking to learn more about landscape photography? Check out this post! 100 Landscape Photography Tips
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Florida Landscape Photography VLOG. Check out my THIS IS FLORIDA! series on YouTube where I am exploring the full length of Florida's A1A in search of the best landscape photography spots.
This Is Florida! Watch The Series Here!
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