The Great Dunes, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

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This photograph was made on a very windy evening under spotty sunlight as sand blows over the surface of the dunes. The spotty light and the blowing sand are both responsible for the shading seen in the image. A 600mm lens was used to capture the photograph. The long focal length allowed compressing the distance between the background mountainside and the dunes, in addition to allowing a good distance between the photographer and the most extreme amounts of blowing sand. At about 750 feet (229 meters) these sand dunes are the highest in North America. The background mountains reach an elevation of 13,414 feet (4089 meters).