Australia in Drought

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Australia looks gray-brown from above. You think of it as a red continent, and sure enough the deserts look red from cruising altitude, but down in the temperate south, where you'd expect some green, given that you're passing over farms, there can be times of year when green is a colour you rarely ever see. This frame was taken over the Adelaide hills, on approach from Melbourne on the last leg back from England, in November 2007, and you can see from Happy Valley Reservoir how dire the water situation is, even at the beginning of the southern summer. The picture needed considerable enhancement as the aircraft window and the sun angle conspired to bleach the image a long way. This was corrected with heavy colour resaturation and three rounds of contrast, and the details were sharpened 5%. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.