Golden Hartley

The light gets pretty tough for photographers during the Australian summer - especially on sunny days. For most of each day it is far too harsh and the dynamic range problems too great to shoot satisfactory colour scenes. During the height of summer the problem gets still worse because the sun is almost directly overhead for several hours, rendering the side of nearly every object (from every direction) in shadow.

Early in the morning and in late afternoon, colour temperatures fall, shadows are confined to one side of objects, the dynamic range of scenes becomes negotiable and some level of saturation returns to colours. Thus it was that by 6 o'clock I could at last tackle some photography in the Hartley, expecting a half way pleasant result. An unanticipated bonus was that much of the glare inducing cloud cover had also burned off. Under such conditions, the area seems mellowly golden.