We recently returned from the Texas Hill Country where we spent a great weekend. Our main goal was to visit the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area (map). This place is a real gem in the Heart of Texas Hill Country and a pretty amazing place to explore. The Enchanted Rock itself rises about 425 feet above the surrounding terrain and is comprised of pink granite. The state park offers hiking, camping, rock climbing and the top of the summit provides great views of the Texas Hill Country.

During the weekend days it is full of visitors and when the parking lot is full, the park closes, so we decided to go there on Friday. It was a good decision. At afternoon we climbed to the top of the Enchanted Rock, than hiked to the west part of the park to photograph the big granite rock lit by the setting sun.

As the sun went down and the foreground became too dark, we started to hike back. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any cloud in the sky that could catch the light of the setting sun, but I couldn’t resist and photographed the sunset anyway. Since this was a very contrasty scene, I bracketed five frames, each one stop apart, and blended them with Lightroom’s HDR Merge.

After sunset we countinued hiking back to our car when we experienced a beautiful twilight that turned the sky amazing shades of purple and blue. With a quick wondering around, I found a composition and took my favorite photo of the day.

All images were taken with my Canon EOS 7D camera and my Canon 17-40mm F/4 L lens mounted on my Manfrotto tripod.