Milky Way Galaxy over the Domes of the Bungle Bungles

[iceman (Mike)]

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.

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.

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.

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Thanks for looking.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

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

[h0ughy (David)]

great shot Mike - a stretched emu!!

[Deeno]

Damn!
Thats spectacular!

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Spectacular shot indeed!

[Octane (Humayun)]

1 word; 2 syllables: awesome.

Love it.

H

[AstralTraveller (David)]

That's ridiculously good.

[RB (Andrew)]

That is Breathtaking !!!

IOTW nomination from me Mike !

[gregbradley]

That is stunning Mike.

Your best shot to date.

Perfectly processed.

Greg.

[CapturingTheNight (Greg)]

Fantastic image Mike 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 (Colin)]

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 (Troy)]

That's a ripper, Mike!

[Chris.B (Christopher)]

That is fantastic!
Well done.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Yep, that's a cracker

Mike

[Peter Ward]

To quote A.Powers: Yeah baby!

Picture-postcard without doubt.

[alan meehan (Alan)]

What a lovely shot Mike well done
AL

[iceman (Mike)]

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

Originally Posted by Omaroo

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

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

Originally Posted by h0ughy

great shot Mike - a stretched emu!!

Thanks Dave, pulled him by the neck

Originally Posted by Deeno

Damn!
Thats spectacular!

Appreciate the comments Dean.

Originally Posted by lacad01

Spectacular shot indeed!

Thanks Adam!

Originally Posted by Octane

1 word; 2 syllables: awesome.

Love it.

H

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

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

That's ridiculously good.

Many thanks

Originally Posted by RB

That is Breathtaking !!!

IOTW nomination from me Mike !

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

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That is stunning Mike.

Your best shot to date.

Perfectly processed.

Greg.

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

Originally Posted by obsidianphotos

Fantastic image Mike 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.

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.

Originally Posted by Derek Klepp

You had a good holiday.Top pic

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

Originally Posted by 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

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.

Originally Posted by troypiggo

That's a ripper, Mike!

Thanks for the feedback Troy.

Originally Posted by Chris.B

That is fantastic!
Well done.

Thanks Chris!

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yep, that's a cracker

Mike

Thanks Mike, glad you like it.

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

To quote A.Powers: Yeah baby!

Picture-postcard without doubt.

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

Originally Posted by alan meehan

What a lovely shot Mike well done
AL

Thanks Alan, appreciate you taking the time to comment.

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by iceman

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

.... but seriously Mike it's a worthy candidate.

[multiweb (Marc)]

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