Break the ice

This was taken at Lost Maples State Park in the Texas Hill Country, on a recent trip I did with my good friend Jeff.  We had hiked all around the park, stopping of course for photo opps and the like, and by the time we got to this nice little spot it was closing in on sunset and we were tired.  It is not often that you find frozen water in these parts, simply because it doesn't get too cold.  So, we did the obvious thing a guy would do - try to break it.  It was fun.  We were sliding rocks out over the ice, which you can see in the photo, and throwing them high so they could land with a lot of force.  I am not sure we actually ever broke the ice here, but it sure was fun trying!

This is a 5 exposure HDR taken at f/11, with exposure ranging from -4 to 0.  They were merged into an HDR in Photomatix, and then I made some adjustments in PSE such as Shadows, Contrast and Unsharp Mask.  Then I ran it through Topaz Adjust and I made some final color adjustments in Aperture.