Bungle Bungles Star Trails

[iceman (Mike)]

The Bungle Bungles (Purnululu National Park) was definitely one of the highlights of my Kimberley Photographic Tour. And what an amazing place at night!

After showing some of the tour group what I had photographed at night at Cape Leveque, quite a few were keen to join me when I had tried to arrange a night sky trip out to the Bungle Bungles.

Cheryl, our guide, was amazing and I’m so thankful to her for driving us back into the Bungle Bungles (a 30 minute drive from our camp) at 9pm at night so I could get the type of nightscape shots with the Bungle Bungles that I was after.

We ended up with 8 of us out on Piccaninny Creek (including Ken Duncan) as I helped them master the correct settings of their DSLR to capture beautiful night sky images with the Bungle Bungles in the foreground. The whole group were so pleased with what they captured, and many of them still recall it as one of the highlights of the whole tour.

In this image, the Bungle Bungle beehive domes are lit by the setting crescent Moon in the West while the star trails show 30 minutes of the Earth’s rotation towards the South Celestial Pole.

Captured with a Canon 40D, 17-40mm lens @ 17mm, ISO1000, f/4, 30 x 1 minute exposures stacked using StarStax and processed in Photoshop CS5.

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Thanks for looking!

[RB (Andrew)]

Oh wow, now that's beautiful.
I love the composition Mike !
Great placement of the SCP in the frame.

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

Mike. There is not sign of haze - the sky is clear to the line of the Bungle Bungles. That's a remarkable contrast and looks almost painted in, which it isn't of course. It's unusual to see such clarity all the way to the Earth. Beautiful.

[iceman (Mike)]

Originally Posted by RB

Oh wow, now that's beautiful.
I love the composition Mike !
Great placement of the SCP in the frame.

Thanks RB! I so wish I could go back there.

Originally Posted by rcheshire

Mike. There is not sign of haze - the sky is clear to the line of the Bungle Bungles. That's a remarkable contrast and looks almost painted in, which it isn't of course. It's unusual to see such clarity all the way to the Earth. Beautiful.

Thanks, the sky was sooo dark out there. And every day was a carbon copy of the last. No clouds, no haze, 26-30 degree days and cold nights!

[Deeno]

Fantastic. What a great result.

[leon]

Very impressive indeed, great location and pretty dark i expect, beautiful image.

Leon

[colinmlegg (Colin)]

Lovely!

That's one of my favourite spots in Piccanniny Creek. Well chosen!

[beren]

another beauty Mike, magic place hope to visit the area one day myself.

[sheeny (Al)]

Top stuff Mike!

Al.

[CapturingTheNight (Greg)]

Great shot Mike Keep em coming.....

[iceman (Mike)]

Originally Posted by Deeno

Fantastic. What a great result.

Many thanks Deeno.

Originally Posted by leon

Very impressive indeed, great location and pretty dark i expect, beautiful image.

Leon

Thanks Leon, it's just a beautiful place. Did you get there on your trip around WA/NT?

Originally Posted by colinmlegg

Lovely!

That's one of my favourite spots in Piccanniny Creek. Well chosen!

Thanks Colin, so many opportunities there. I wish there was a little more water in the creek - it was almost dry, only 2 small pools for reflections.

Originally Posted by beren

another beauty Mike, magic place hope to visit the area one day myself.

Thanks Stuart! It's such a nice spot - it'd be nice to be able to get back there again but I fear it could be many many years before it can happen again.

Originally Posted by sheeny

Top stuff Mike!

Al.

Thanks Al!

Originally Posted by obsidianphotos

Great shot Mike Keep em coming.....

Thanks Greg, appreciate your comments and help with the panos, they're coming along nicely now!

[h0ughy (David)]

great shot Mike - certainly some atmosphere there

[gregbradley]

Fantastic Mike.

You're well on your way to a Malin 2013 win~!

Greg.