Absolutely stunning.. thanks!

wow......just.....wow. what camera, and what effects did you apply?

looks great, but this is cg isn't it?

No CG, just HDR treatment. 3 exposures at 125 ISO 30mm f/18 EV 1/4 1/25 and 1/60, combined to HDR and tonemapped with photomatix pro. tonemapping can result in pretty dramatic effect. I use AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) to simplify my captures except for night shots which I use a remote timer. But it can be done using any camera with Exposure compensation and Manual or Av modes. A tripod is a must, unless you have the ultimate in steady hands. To achieve this effect I set luminosity to 0 and light smoothing to 0 with strength at 100%.

If you are interested in Photomatix Pro and HDR photography check out HDRsoft.com. (For 15% discount use "astros_s" here http://www.hdrsoft.com/order/discount.html)

I forgot to mention that if your camera shoots raw format it can be converted into a psudo-HDR photo and then tone mapped with some great results.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexstross/540665127/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexstross/542955844/

both of these were created with a single raw image and photomatix pro.

Nice plug :) Beautiful photo too. Looks unreal.
HDR can do some great effects to your images, but be careful not to over do it.

Great shot, but as previously stated, the HDR is a bit overcooked. The effect makes the picture look more like painting or rendering than a photograph.

You hit the nail on the head. Zion is such a magical place that even the images straight from the camera look unreal. Even being there was a treat.

The picture is so sick, like a video game!

I'm new to the whole photo touchup thing, so you used this HDR software to texturing the sky?

Actually it's the otherway around. If you have a sky with great texture the HDR process brings out that texture. HDR doesn't make a photo any more than what is already there. The more dramtic the sky the more impact your HDR will have...In most cases.

And how about all the vibrant colors in the sky and in the mountain? How is that effect done?

I would have to say it's mainly a side effect of high color saturation in the production of the HDR file.