Plan B

I was driving down to Columbus yesterday and make a trek across the north side of Columbus to avoid a stretch of US 23 that is inundated with stop lights and the associated traffic. This little bypass starts in Delaware OH on US 36 and joins up on I-71 (exit 131) north of Columbus.

US 36 crosses Alum Creek Lake towards the north end of the lake. As I was on the bridge looking south I saw a hot air balloon that was about ten feet off the water. I got across the bridge and pulled over to gram my camera. Having brought my main gear bag as I will not be on the road this week, I mounted the 70-200 for a good zoom down the lake. I walked back on the bridge only to find the balloon had fired its burners and had made it across the lake but was starting to settle behind some trees. I had to assume it was the touch down zone as the was no news about it last night.

Well... My shot had escaped me so I started walking back to the car. The sunset was not going to be real picturesque but there were some nice reflections off the lake and the leaves had sufficient color change to warrant the effort. Plan B was set into action. The image above is a composite of two shots. This is old school HDR. Shooting into the setting sky just does not generate enough dynamic range in camera so two exposures were necessary.

Hope your week is starting out well. Cya tomorrow... Doug