Blowing sand..c&c please :)

[ayeelkay]

I love the blowing sand in these photos..but there's something that bothers me otherwise. Can't put my finger on it..

 

[Sisco]

I am know I will get slapped for saying this....again.

The horizon?
When the first is leveled, then the photo will appear top be halved, so eliminating some of the sky would work.

The second,I like the first best, the Bg in the second doesn't show off the sand.

 

[ayeelkay]

You're probably right, maybe it is the horizon, STILL haha.

 

[KmH]

Mostly that the sky is not adding that much to the photo.

Straightening the horizon and cropping so the sky only occupies about the top 1/3 of the photo would help.

#2 The sand loses the sense of motion because of the backlighting and the unrelated, static background.