Drone HDR At Sunrise
I knew it was unlikely that lane striping would happen on the Main Street/Park Road bridge so early in the morning on a very cold winter day.
The news was that the weather and the weekend would delay opening the roadway. Both would be social media talking points and worth getting up before sunrise to have a photo for the Westerville News that best matched the story.
Flew the drone for a variety of angles but the best of the lot was this low-level, up-close view of the “Road Closed” signs with the bridge and sunrise in the background.
Shot as a five-frame HDR capture on the drone, it was edited in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop to keep the foreground a cooler blue and the sunrise warm enough to show the beginning of the day.
Fortunately, the center stripe milled away in preparation for new striping kept its darker tone, helping to illustrate the story.
Below is The Westerville News edition with the photo and story.
I returned this morning anticipating that the crew would return after the weekend without rain but be limited by cold temperatures. My analysis of the situation was correct. Three trucks of workers waited for the striping truck to get the pain hot enough to apply to the cold surface.
The stripping will be applied despite the cold road and bridge surface because it is a temporary striping intended only during construction and is not permanent.
To meet The Westerville News morning deadline, I made a photo that combined most of the elements required to help tell the story.
It includes the truck waiting to get up to temperature, the “Road Closed” sign, the closed bridge with construction barriers along the side, a “Do Not Enter” sign, and the old striping milled away last week.
It is not an award winner but is the lead photo in today’s The Westerville News.
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