Very nice shot. I love the way the grains of sand are right there frozen in time. About framing it differently, it seems that this shot was more of a spur of the moment shot that you just had no time to think about how you can compose it to make it better. Maybe if it was shot from higher, more like a birds eye view perspective, then you may have been able to only get the hand as a brush, but you most likely would have lost the awesome effect of how the grains of sands stands out over the shadow.
I love the image, great colors. It's simply stunning.