Old Rock, Glen Helen Gorge

[alexch]

Hi All,

I am back from the 3-week long trip to the Red Centre and the hard drive is half-full of images (can't wait to start working on them). This moonlit image is from a truly magical place called Glen Helen in the West MacDonnell Ranges, near Alice Springs.

The Finke River is one of the oldest rivers in the World and parts of it existed 300-400 million years ago. The red colour in the rock came out quite strong under the moonlight.

Cheers,
Alex

[Octane]

Stunning.

H

[Joshua Bunn]

Lovely image and a great place.

Josh

[Larryp]

Very nice, Alex!

[astronobob]

Magic scene and awesome photo Alex :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Another great image Alex. I look forward to seeing more of what you have gotten.

Greg.

[iceman]

Just beautiful.

[Adelastro1]

Very nice Alex. Hope you get time to process some before the Malins close! ;)

[CapturingTheNight]

Such a beautiful scene Alex. Great shot. Can not wait to see more from this trip.

[multiweb]

Very cool. Looks like a smoking volcano. :thumbsup:

[lacad01]

Great shot :thumbsup:

[StephenM]

Looks like a fabulous spot Alex!

Looking forward to seeing more from the collection.

Cheers,
Stephen

[Ross G]

Amazing looking photo Alex.

Great quality and great composition.

Ross.

[AstralTraveller]

Great shot. You're making me want to go back, it's been too long. Perhaps when I take LSL :shrug:. Last time I was there it was the days of emulsion film and such shots weren't being taken (well not commonly). I'll have to give it a try if I ever get back there.



Yes, it's amazing to think that the river is older than the MacDonnell Ranges but the evidence is clear. The Finke, Todd and a few others were meandering across a flat plain when the ranges began to rise under them. The rate of rise was slow enough that the rivers were able to cut through the ranges before they were diverted by them. (If the rate of uplift was greater than the rate of cutting the rivers would have been diverted, just as the Murray was.) These are termed antecedent streams. There are also some smaller subsequent streams which feed the rivers and these have their course constrained by the ridges of the ranges. So now we have rivers meandering through the ranges and cutting through them to form the spectacular gorges which hold life-giving water that sustained the Aboriginal people and now attract tourists that sustain Alice Springs.

[Paul Haese]

Nice processing and natural looking Alex. I wonder though if the composition could have placed the rock formation either to the far right or far left. Do you think that would have been better overall? I tend to prefer that myself. Or perhaps the Milkway over to the left more and perhaps cradling rock. Still a nice shot. I do like the way the 14-24 can give that nice rendering in moon light with the colours of the rock and green without any colour fringing.

[astroron]

Nice Image Alex.:)
Walked the Larapinta trail two years ago and stayed the last night at Glen Helen Resort.
I loved the country, and the walks,would love to do it again:)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[trek1701]

Wonderful shot Alex :thumbsup:
I was up that way years ago with a film camera. Would love to go back again armed with my new camera gear.

Mark

[pmrid]

Alex, it's images such as yours and others in this sub-forum that inspire. Thank you. Keep the inspiration coming.
Peter

[alexch]

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone! It was our first trip up to the centre and I am sure I'll be back there soon with a proper 4WD instead of a campervan.

Cheers,
Alex

[alexch]

Thanks Paul. I think composition is a very subjective thing and at the scene I felt it was appropriate to have it this way - Giant Emu hiding behind a big rock and ghost gums on the left. Besides, there was a very limited scope to move because of the river and vegetation.

[geoffsims]

Beautiful!



I'm with Greg! When do we get to see the eclipse ones :)

[alexch]

Thanks, Geoff!

There is not much to write home about the eclipse, the clouds on the horizon and not being able to put the camera where I wanted, made the footage much less interesting.

[AstralTraveller]

I've just noticed that alpha Cent is shining through a tree. Lovely. Please tell me it was all planned. :)

[Peter Ward]

An an amazing part of planet earth to be sure (having recently been there as well ;) )

I am a great fan of your images Alex, but this one....despite the sublime colours.. doesn't have the right composition for my eye....it lacks "balance" which I'd only give a B+ score to, rather than your usual A+ imagery.

While a pretty image, I suspect there is much more in your bag of tricks from the red centre :thumbsup:

[alexch]

No - it was a very welcome accident :)

[alexch]

Fair enough, and thanks for the constructive criticism. It is very valid and I would have probably said the same if I was looking at someone else's image. But in this case I am very subjective, still vividly remembering how I saw the scene, especially the moonlit ghost gums which I had to include.

The weather was not to cooperative when we were up there and the scenery already beckons to come back. I have got a few scenes for timelapse but not as many dedicated still images as I would have liked.

Cheers,
Alex

[Phil Hart]

Lovely image Alex. You've sure had some fun travels as well!

Have you used a star filter to accentuate the bright stars or is that the way they came out of the camera? They have a nice size glow to them either way.

Phil

[alexch]

Thanks, Phil.
I applied just a little dose of StarSpikes PS plugin (by Noel Carboni).

Cheers,
Alex

[ourkind]

That's beautiful Alex well done! Tones, subject and framing are excellent!

[colinmlegg]

It's a beautiful striking image. Nothing more to say ;)

[schmikko]

That's just a stunning image.