Milky Way Galaxy over the Domes of the Bungle Bungles

[iceman]

You know the skies are dark when you can see the Milky Way overhead, even when there’s a more than half-moon shining brightly high in the west sky. And that’s what it was like at the Bungle Bungles (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/tag/bungle-bungles).

This image is an 8 frame panorama, taken on Piccaninny Creek bed with my Canon 5D Mk II and Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens, while the Canon 40D was taking a star trails image (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/2012/07/14/bungle-bungles-star-trails/).

Seeing the arching milky way over the domes of the Bungle Bungles reminds me of those fantastic two nights in Purnululu National Park – a stunning array of domes, cliffs, gorges, bushland and dark dark skies.

Each frame was a 30s exposure, f/2.8 ISO3200. Panorama created using Auto Pano Pro, and the image was processed in Photoshop CS5.

- Large (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/download/258)
- Blog (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/2012/07/25/milky-way-galaxy-over-the-domes-of-the-bungle-bungles/)

Thanks for looking.

[Omaroo]

Sa-tunning. Bloody incredible shot Mike. Five thumbs up. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

great shot Mike - a stretched emu!!

[Deeno]

Damn!
Thats spectacular!

[lacad01]

Spectacular shot indeed! :thumbsup:

[Octane]

1 word; 2 syllables: awesome.

Love it.

H

[AstralTraveller]

That's ridiculously good.

[RB]

That is Breathtaking !!!

IOTW nomination from me Mike !

:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

That is stunning Mike.

Your best shot to date.

Perfectly processed.

Greg.

[CapturingTheNight]

Fantastic image Mike :thumbsup: Good to see a pano from you. Hopefully the first of many more. As you know I love nightsky panos. I just have one small critique (and I'm probably going to get shot for this, but....). My eye keeps getting drawn down to that section of sky just above the landscape on the left. I feel that this could have been blended slightly better.

[Derek Klepp]

You had a good holiday.Top pic

[colinmlegg]

Top effort Mike. Well done getting the sky so dark...I struggle with that when the moon is fuller. Any tips?

My only quibble would be a bit over saturated for my liking...good for maximum public impact though ;)

[troypiggo]

That's a ripper, Mike!

[Chris.B]

That is fantastic!
Well done.

[strongmanmike]

Yep, that's a cracker :thumbsup:

Mike

[Peter Ward]

To quote A.Powers: Yeah baby!

Picture-postcard without doubt.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[alan meehan]

What a lovely shot Mike well done
AL

[iceman]

Thanks so much for all your feedback. I've received a lot of positive comments about this image and it's very much appreciated.



Thanks Chris! Would love to come down and visit MAS again soon.




Thanks Dave, pulled him by the neck :)




Appreciate the comments Dean.




Thanks Adam!




Thanks H. It's really hard to take a bad shot out there. The scenery is so spectacular.




Many thanks :)




haha thanks RB. I always think my shots are awesome so it would take something special to give myself an IOTW :)




Thanks Greg - and thanks for the tips on the gradients. I'll give it a go.




Thanks Greg #2. Also thanks for your feedback. That area you're talking about - it's not due to the blending - the sky was just brighter down there, i'm not sure why. Must've been some haze or something. I'll have another go at trying to darken it to make it stand out less.

Also thanks so much for your hints regarding creating the panorama - I would've been throwing this away without your tips.




I *loved* my holiday. So many great memories. I wish I could go on photography holidays more often than once a lifetime.




Thanks for the feedback Colin. You know I like the saturation ;) I might try a version with a slightly less saturated foreground and see how it looks.

Regarding the sky - I didn't really do anything special. It was just a combination of noise reduction, and lots of iterations of levels and curves and colour balance/vibrance.

Anyway sometimes a 'not black' sky works better with a brightly lit foreground, otherwise the difference can be too stark.




Thanks for the feedback Troy.




Thanks Chris!




Thanks Mike, glad you like it.




Thanks Peter - I'll definitely be trying a test print of this one.




Thanks Alan, appreciate you taking the time to comment.

[RB]

:lol: :P .... but seriously Mike it's a worthy candidate.

:thumbsup:

[multiweb]

That is some very nice skies indeed. You can see the milkyway right down to the horizon. :thumbsup:

[bloodhound31]

So beautiful!

[iceman]

Thanks, the sky was so dark out there. Never seen anything like it.


Thanks Barry!
Much appreciated.

[gary]

Hi Mike,

A wonderful image with a timeless quality. :thumbsup:

[Matty]

Hey well done Mike I just saw this image in Universe Today. Fantastic to see you getting some international recognition and they placed a link to both your web site and IIS.:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Thanks Gary and Matt.

It was nice of UT to showcase my image and link here :)

[Martin Pugh]

An outstanding panorama Mike.

cheers
Martin

[iceman]

Thanks Martin :thumbsup:

[Tamtarn]

Absolutely spectacular Mike! This has to be one of your best :thumbsup:
Barb

[Ross G]

Absolutely amazing photo Mike.

You really are at the forefront of this type of photography.

Ross.

[shelltree]

Absolutely breathtaking mate!

[StephenM]

I'm a bit late, but ... stunning image Mike! Must have been an amazing place to visit!

Cheers,
Stephen

[colinmlegg]

APOD! :eyepop:

[gregbradley]

Congrats Mike they are not easy to get.

Greg.

[alexch]

Mike, congrats with the APOD!

Cheers,
Alex

[Phil Hart]

Well done! Nice feeling eh!

Phil

[CapturingTheNight]

Congrats Mike :thumbsup: Very well deserved.



one day................

[iceman]

Thanks guys, really appreciate your comments.

It's been a while between drinks (over 3.5 years) so it was certainly a nice surprise.

The waiting game is always the worst... submit it, hear nothing for a while, and then out of the blue you hear back from them and the nerves start :)

[Phil Hart]

you're lucky if you heard from them beforehand! i put my conjunction pic on starship asterisk and two weeks later it appeared without any warning (long after i had given up hope). the previous day's title description of what was coming the following day was wrong as well so it wasn't till somebody emailed me that i had any idea!

Phil

[RobF]

Have just seen the APOD on my tablet. Congrats Mike. All I initially saw was the central 1/3 of the pic which in itself is stunning, but the full vista is mind blowing.

Well deserved :thumbsup:

[dj gravelrash]

That takes the buscuit lol==stunning.:eyepop: