Sunset with the Pantheon

This was a lucky shot - lucky in the sense of being in the right place at the right time of day.  We found ourselves south and west of Austin, and it was late afternoon.  There was nothing in the sky that indicated the sunset would be magnificent.  Literally we were looking for a place to stop and take photos - enter Barsana Dham, a Hindu temple on 200 acres in the deserted woods.  It is really a glorious place situated on a beautiful piece of land.  I walked around the temple, walked in the temple, took shots all around the place, and then - the sunset arrived.  I literally ran to this pond, hoping that something magical might occur.  I could not believe the colors that the sky was producing.  I was so taken with the colors, I just could not believe it.  It was so beautiful!  There was a small dock on the edge of this pond, and it just happened to be in the right place, facing the sunset.  I assumed somebody planned that, or maybe they expected me to arrive and need a place to shoot from.  I lined up and took my shots.  When it was over, I was immediately looking at the images on my camera over and over again.  Sometimes, even on that tiny screen, you can tell you have a winner.   

This was a 6 exposure HDR taken at f/11, with the exposures ranging from +2 to -3.  The images were merged in Photomatix to create the HDR, and then adjusted in both PSE (Curves, Contrast, Unsharp Mask) and Topaz Adjust.