Springtime in the Texas Hill Country

Well, it seems spring is officially here in central Texas.  I say "officially" because this is the time of year that all the wildflowers start blooming (and all the yellow oak pollen makes you sneeze!), and boy do they pop up all over the place!  The bluebonnet, which is the blue flower in this photo, is abundant and is also the Texas State Flower. They are growing everywhere and we get a lot of folks from many places that come down here to check out this seasonal spectacle.  While on this photo hunt, we came across a group of ladies taking a bike tour through the area, just to see the flowers.  They were from all over the country:  Washington State, California, Connecticut, etc.  This photo is from basically the middle of nowhere in the Texas Hill Country.  We went on a ramble, in search of beautiful views with lots of flowers, and were lucky enough to find just the right places, tucked away off the beaten path.  I really like this shot because this is sort of the classic view of the Hill Country that you see represented in oil paintings and things like that.  You have the empty, lonely dirt road, seemingly disappearing into the distance, with a nice big tree, the hills in the distance, and of course lots of bluebonnets.  I have a lot more photos to share from this little adventure so more will be coming soon!  So, pop some Claritin, grab your camera and get out there!

This is a 6 exposure HDR taken at f/22, with exposures ranging from +2 to -3.  I merged them into an HDR in Photomatix, and then made some adjustments in PSE and Aperture.  I often find that some of the colors coming out of Photomatix are really bright, so I had to tone them down to achieve a more natural look.  Hope you like it!