Rodney Campbell's Blog

This is (almost) the milky way arch panorama I had wanted to take four years earlier at this spot

Irreconcilable

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

You may be wondering why I titled this “Irreconcilable”

The reason is that the more perceptive of you may be wondering how on earth I’ve shot this. With the milky way in the sky whilst also appearing to have sunrise in the shot

That would of course not be possible – the sun would totally wash out the stars

What appears to be the sun here behind the tree is actually a sliver of rising moon at the horizon

In a few minutes it too would wash out the sky hiding all the stars 🙂

Thankfully this time around I also had my multi row pano rails with me for this two rows of five (5) frames for the complete milky way arch

When I was here at Ngumban Cliff just over four years ago… I’d tried to shoot a milky way panorama with this awesome lone tree at the lookout

Unfortunately at that time the moon was quite large and out in the sky before sunset. Alas the stars were well and truly washed out (even shooting at relative low ISO in astro shooting terms)

This time the moon wasn’t rising till more than an hour after sunset. This gave me a very short window of time to shoot the stars just after astro twilight ended (an hour after sunset)

This is a seven (7) frame vertical panorama with basically the entire vertical milky way (180˚ horizon to horizon) shown above the tree

Alyssa’s Tree

Back to Ngumban Cliff rest area for our second night there

This time I drove a little down the road to do some drone flying at sunset

Ngumban Mounds

I’m finding the Mavic 2 Pro camera to be pretty damn amazing both during the day but also right at and just after sunset

Shooting just before and just after sunset (or around sunrise) and facing away from the sun. You get these lovely pastel skies which don’t blow out whilst the foreground which looks darkish on the ground has this fabulous warm glow

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Another 180 degree twenty one (21) frame stitched panorama from the drone

Those hills of bright red and orange rock are pretty damn amazing with warm sunset light

Ngumban 180

Golden Valleys

Road to Ngumban

 

As we were staying at Ngumban Cliff Lookout for two nights (my request again :))

The next morning we visited nearby Mimbi Caves

Cleansing

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

This place is pretty amazing – part of the 350 million year old Devonian Reef system

The rock formations – both outside and inside the caves was pretty surprising

We’d arrived for the early morning 8AM tour and finished our “2 hour” tour at almost midday 🙂

Spiky

At $80 an adult the tour is not inexpensive but if you’re ever out this way I highly recommend the tour

The Lost City

Towers

Mimbi Reflections

Mimbi Tunnels I

Mimbi Tunnels II

The Power Lift

The One Tree

 

At Ngumban Cliff’s there’s this one lone ghost gum up at the lookout. Sitting alone amongst the spinifex it’s perfect for some simple photography

Here it’s framed centrally by the horizon glow of the now set sun

Alyssa’s Tree

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

In the morning I happened to be awake just before sunrise. So I jumped out of bed in my PJ’s and shot this from the caravan doorway. The sun was about to rise behind us

Ngumban Twilight