Best Grampians Photo Spots
The Grampians National Park is around a 3 hour drive to Melbourne's west. The Grampians contains stunning sandstone mountains, formed millions of years ago by river sediment, and then pushed up by geological activity. They have formed breathtaking diagonal peaks towering over the surrounding plains. The town of Halls Gap is in the heart of the park. There's a great range of accommodation, and most of the main attractions are within a few hours' drive. I've slept at the Kookaburra Motor Lodge, which is right near the centre of town. It's great value, simple accommodation, and has everything you need (including friendly owners).
For photography there are some great hikes and amazing lookouts with heaps of foreground interest, giving way to incredible views over the valleys and peaks of the surrounding ranges. If you're into flowers there are great wild flowers during spring, and if you're into adventure photography there's some great rock climbing and long hikes. There are a few waterfalls around, the main attraction being MacKenzie Falls. I've visited a few times, and I've mostly explored the main attractions and lookouts listed below.
There is so much variety for photography in a relatively small area that the Grampians is one of my favourite spots in Victoria. The dramatic cliffs pushing above plains as far as they eye can see make for great visual contrast, and stunning vistas. Between Melbourne and the Grampians there are some beautiful country towns to stop in. Ararat has a great scenic spot at One Tree Hill Lookout that's worth a stop for, and the start of the Silo Art trail is quite close as an option for a day trip.
(B) Venus Baths / Wonderland Loop
I've been to the Venus Baths once, and it was on a COLD day, just before the start of Winter. The flow was quite small, I'm not sure how heavy it gets after a few days of rain. In summer i can imagine there would be lots of kids and families swimming in the water, the pools are quite small and shallow. I was here killing some time waiting for sunset to go up to one of the lookouts. The baths are around 750m, or an 11 minute walk, from the Halls Gap Botanical Gardens. I parked here, walked through the gardens and through the gate on the other side. The path is flat and clearly marked. There were a few families with kids when I was there. The baths themselves were OK, not spectacular, but fun to find some little compositions using the flow of the water and using an ND filter to slow the shutter speed.
The path to the Venus Baths is the start of the Wonderland Loop Hike, a 10km trek all the way up to the Pinnacle Lookout this is around a 4-5 hour return hike. This takes in some of the best natural features of the area. I haven't done this trek myself, as I chose to drive up to the Wonderland car park and hike from that point it's a 2 hour or so return hike. This takes all of the best sights, excluding the Venus Baths. There is a shorter hike again going from the Sundial car park which excludes the Grand Canyon, and is a one and a half hour return hike. All these hikes end at the Pinnacle Lookout. See the next section for the Wonderland area.
(C) The Pinnacles & Wonderland Area
The Pinnacle walk is one of my favourites at the Grampians. I've done this hike from both the Wonderland car park and Sun Dial car park. The Wonderland hike is longer and harder, but I think it's far more rewarding as it takes in a number of really cool rock formations, and there's a big variety of landscape to see. From this spot you will first see a great little stream with smooth weathered rocks, with some great little features for a compact composition. ND & polarising filters plus slow shutter speeds are your friend here!
The next feature is the Grand Canyon (right) a long passage through a cleft between sandstone cliffs. There is a small stream that runs through that presents some great opportunities for images, but I really recommend a polarising filter. I was here in the middle of the day and missed some great shots as I had left mine in the car, and really needed to cut out reflections on the surface of the water.
Between the Grand Canyon and Silent Street you'll be walking up a relatively long hill, and then traverse an open rocky expanse.
Next up is Silent Street (bottom middle) which is a really long, quite thin cleft in the rocks that can seem still and serene as you're cut off from the world above. Here you can play with longer focal lengths to compress the foreground, mid ground and background, and play with depth of field to give a closed in feel.
After you climb out of the Silent Street there's another rock field to walk through with heaps of rocky composition opportunities and you'll then end at the Pinnacle Lookout (left bottom). This lookout looks out over Halls Gap and the Western Plains leading to Melbourne and is a great reward after a long hike. Make sure you bring some snacks and water, have a rest then search out some great foreground features to lead out to the view beyond.
My favourite view is not from the lookout. The view is great, but it's a little flat and uninteresting for an image, unless you get up early or late and have some amazing light. I prefer to walk around 100m to the left where you can find some stunning scenic images of one of the cliffs beyond, with lots of interesting foreground elements. See the image at the top of this section for an idea.
I've been here around the middle of the day on most of my visits as I've preferred other lookouts and locations for my morning and evening shots, but I plan to get up early one day to get up here (with a head torch) for sunrise, which would be extra stunning, as the sun will rise over the plains and the cliffs will be hit with the first light of the morning!
(D) Reeds Lookout / The Balconies
Reeds Lookout and The Balconies are one of my favourite spots for golden hour and sunset photography. The main carpark is at Reeds Lookout, with the Balconies a 10-15 minute walk in the other direction. Reed Lookout is a short 2 minute walk up the hill from the car park with a great lookout over the ranges. I feel this one is best for sunset. There are heaps of rocks to set up on and find your ideal spot to shoot away. My favourite spot is to walk a little further on from the path to the rocks shown directly below. You can capture some great leading lines into the setting sun. As the sun sets you can get some beautiful little detailed shots that are side or back lit. There are some interesting rocks you can work into your compositions a little to the left of the spot shown below too. Soft Grad ND filters are recommended to control your exposure, but if you don't have them with you, bracketing shots will work just as well. Make sure you stay 10-15 minutes after the sun sets, and you can get some beautiful pink tones depending on the conditions. The two shots below were taken approximately 25 minutes apart on consecutive days.
Between Reeds Lookout and the Balconies, you will walk through some great rock fields with lots of interesting nooks and crannies to photograph. If you're there just after sunrise or just before sunset you can get some great side lighting that make for an amazing scene. One of my favourite shots is below on the right. I decided to be a little adventurous and left the path to explore the cliffs between the two lookouts. This boulder was in the perfect position, the sun was on it's way down and gave me some beautiful side light that created a little path directly to the rock, and then the valleys beyond. The image on the left was taken only a few steps from the path, even though it's not spectacular, I was drawn to the different coloured lichen and moss against the grey stone, leading through the image.
The Balconies is a super cool outcrop that depending on your point of view can look like it's namesake, or IMHO like a pair of prehistoric jaws. This spot has fenced off observation points, but you will quite often see tourists posing for photos directly on the rocks. The image on the left is taken just before sunrise. In the right conditions sunrise could be quite spectacular, but in this case, as the sun rises on the other side of the hill, you won't get any direct light on the rocks from this angle. You will get some great light spilling over the hills beyond as the sun breaches the ridge. You need to keep in mind the focus of your shot, if you want the rocks to be lit and not in silhouette sunset or before sunrise may be better. Of course, the conditions on the day may be perfect for you with a sea of fog below the rocks, or a sky on fire at sunrise.
Depending on the time of year, sunset may pose similar challenges, as the rocks may be in shadow from the Reed Lookout hill. I would check the sun position using an app or the sun position calculator at the bottom of the page to work out the ideal place to shoot depending on the time of year you'll be there.
The shot on the right was from the observation point at the Balconies, but looking back in the opposite direction, towards Reeds Lookout
(E) MacKenzie Falls
MacKenzie Falls is awesome! There is a large car park, so I assume this will get quite busy during the warmer months. The waterfall is only a 2 km return walk from the car park, but you have to go down a *lot* of steps, so it's a bit of a workout...Bring some water with you!
There is a really pretty upper level that you can shoot form the pathway, better for longer lenses and detail shots, and the lower level that you have free access to. Lots of great little compositions for you, I particularly love the rock at the bottom right of the image below. I've seen some great shots using this to frame the waterfall behind. You can leave this one a little later in the Morning as you are so far down you won't get too much direct sunlight until later in the day. This is really important for longer exposure shots as you don't want too much light and glare in these images. As always, ND & polarising filters are your friend here (and a cloth to keep wiping those filters and lenses!).
(F) Mount William
WOW! Was this a stunning place. Mt William is the tallest peak in the Grampians, and gives you unparalleled 360 degree views. From the car park it's a 3.5km return hike up a sealed road. It takes about 45 minutes to hike up, and your legs may not be your best friend the next day. Once you do get up, the view is spectacular! I hiked up before sunrise during winter, leaving the car park at around 5:45am, I think it was 1 degree celsius. You'll get pretty warm going up, but you will be pretty cold when you get up, so make sure you wear layers, bring a beanie and gloves depending on the time of year. If you plan to do a bit of exploring a head torch is a must. When you get to the top you will see a fenced off area with communication towers, you can walk around the fence to the other side where you will find a historical marker. The views on the eastern side of the fence are pretty amazing. You can see forever over the farmland, and the colours are spectacular against the rocks.
My favourite shot is the one above. I 'bush bashed' my way past the historical marker, there are a few little trails you can follow, to find the rocks in the foreground, and camped out here for half an hour as the sun rose. As the light hit the rocks in growing intensity, the colours transformed from dull grey into this beautiful luminous orange. As the sun continued to rise, the colour of light transitioned to peach, and then to a warm yellow, which was particularly beautiful as it hit the peaks beyond. This spot would be great for either sunrise or sunset, but to my mind, with the lay of the land I think sunrise would be a better opportunity. Having said that, there is a small plateau at the top of the mountain, and you could get great images at either end of the day. You could shoot wide spectacular landscapes, or focus on all the amazing flora as the light changes.
(G) Lake Bellfield
Lake Bellfield can be seen from the Pinnacles, and in my opinion it makes for really ordinary landscape. One end of the lake is dammed, so from the top of the lookout, that end is clearly man made and I feel it spoils the view somewhat. I'm sure other photographers have made it look amazing from up high though. As I was driving back to the motel after an early morning up on Mount William, I could see the most amazing fog covering the surface of the lake. The morning had been 1 degree, and the sun had just started to hit. I quickly took the turn off, set up my gear, and ran down to the shoreline. As with many lakes there are lots of dead trees in the water. As the sun hit them, and only with the sun back lighting the trees, intricate spider webs lit up like brilliant diamonds. I wasn't quite quick enough before the fog burnt off, but I did manage to capture the image below with the fog still visible on the other side of the lake. This exposure was taken with a 10 stop ND filter for 92 seconds to smooth out the surface of the water. Taken from another angle, the spider webs were completely invisible and made for a entirely unremarkable shot. I guess the moral of the story is, be prepared to jump into action when your spidey senses start tingling!
(H) Boroka Lookout
Boroka Lookout is one of the famous lookouts at the Grampians, however I've only been here once for 15 minutes, around half an hour after sunset. In my opinion it's not as spectacular as the lookouts above, and certainly not as spectacular as Mount William. It's only a few meters from the car park, and there is a raised observation platform. The pluses are you will get a fabulous vista where you can see for kilometres, and it is great to just be there and take it all in. There is a great little rocky outcrop to the right of the platform that I've seen used in some really nice shots, but in all my visits so far I've been far more attracted to the other spots above. I'll give this one a go for a sunrise shoot next time I'm in the area.
Sun Path & Ray Map
The map is set to Reeds Lookout, you can search for any location using the search box.
Zoom right in or out, or move the yellow icon around then press execute to see update sun information.
Remember to uncheck 'DST' if you are outside daylight savings time! Sunrise and Sunset times are listed. Experiment with some of the dates from my images above!