Another summer evening, another sunset at Magnolia Park.  This sunset didn’t have the fiery colors of my July 4th Firework images, but it was still pretty.  The park was less crowded, so I got to move around more and try some new vantage points.

The dock was empty, so I headed out to photograph over the lake.

But I quickly realized that I liked the framing of the trees in the foreground.  I’ve never managed the shot below without people on the dock!

I played peek-a-boo with the sun as it tried to hide behind the trees.  I was impressed at how well the HDR blend worked with the dark foreground and super-bright background here.

Funny, though, I ended up at one of my usual spots as the sun actually set.  There is something about how the trees frame the sunset that I really like.  The sun’s rays made a starburst in those last few moments of daylight.

Rich was with me on this visit, and he patiently waited with me for the afterglow (those beautiful brilliant colors that come 20-30 minutes after sunset).  But it didn’t happen that evening.  I think there were too many dense clouds on the horizon.  So instead I pulled out my intermediate telephoto and did some blur shots of the clouds.  A fun way to end a good day!