Blue skies in the morning

I had the good fortune of spending this morning on a solo photowalk around Austin.  Austin is a wonderful town and I am reminded of that fact every time I go take photos.  There are so many beautiful spots in town that it could take literally years to get to them all.  There is a reason that so many folks are moving here, and it ain't just that our housing is cheaper than other places (though that likely helps).  Case in point: this location.  I was actually parked at the back side of our beautiful Texas Capitol, and had wandered around it for a bit taking some shots.  I noticed that the sky out west of town was a beautiful blue color, and all my shots at the Capitol just weren't facing the right direction.  So, I headed back to my car and very nearly was about to hang it up for a bit, when I saw these fountains at an adjacent building.  I had walked by them many times, never stopping for a photo or a second glance.  But this time, the blue sky in the distance caught my eye, and being a fan of water and fountains anyways, I hung around until I got a composition that I thought might work.  So, here it is.  You can call this an accidental HDR, or an unplanned shot, or just a lucky find.  Either way, I was glad I came across it!

This is a 5 exposure HDR (+1 to -3) taken at f/11 and merged in Photomatix.  I made some adjustments in PSE and Aperture and that's about it.  Oddly, it came out of Photomatix very similarly to how it looks here.  Usually my images require a bit of maintenance after Photomatix but this one was pretty easy!