Two weeks to the day after my first sunset at Magnolia Park, I went back for another.  :)  We’d had a front move through and the clouds were just gorgeous in the sky.  Besides, who can resist the allure of fresh air and a breeze after a long week at work?

See what I mean about the clouds?  I knew that as soon as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, it would start to light up the clouds in all sorts of colors.

While I waited for the sun to set, I put on a neutral density filter and played with some longer exposures.  Those clouds were on the move, and I wanted to try to capture the motion in my shots.  I did several long exposures, and none of them quite caught the feel of the moment.  Then on whim, I combined each of them in Photomatix.  The result is the shot below – look at the sun’s rays as the clouds move through!

Sunsets happen so fast.  Before I knew it, the sun had disappeared and the sky was aglow with color.  So pretty!

But my favorite shot of the night was the HDR image taken about 15 minutes after sunset.  The light was fading, and the clouds were bathed in beautiful pink light.  This last shot is 7 exposures blended together.  Well worth the fight with the mosquitos who came out after dark!