Willow City Loop


Spring is the time when Texans go crazy about wildflowers. The wildflower displays along Texas roads are fantastic if we have good showers in the fall. You can drive around the city or go to a park to enjoy a colorful display of flowers. A favorite pastime at this time of the year is to take any county roads to marvel at the simple beauty of wildflowers blooming. The area featured in this photo is called Willow City Loop. It is a favorite spot to see wildflowers. You may see Bluebonnets in some places, as in the image above. Traffic on those narrow roads gets pretty intense. Because it is private land, parking is not allowed. So, you end up having this long car procession moving very slowly so people can snap a shot here and there. Willow City Loop is approximately 90 miles (145 km) west of Austin. Avoid weekends because of the high traffic in that area. Even on weekdays, sometimes one can be surprised by the high traffic.

This image was captured in 2003 with a 1.2-megapixel camera. I used Topaz Photo AI to upscale the image, then edited it in Lightroom (most of the edits), Photoshop (curves, saturation, and removal of minor distracting elements), and Luminar Neo (LUT to obtain the look I wanted and color correction). It is still a wonder to me to see how much information I can use from the original photo, especially in the sky.

11 Responses

  1. Nicole Sara
    | Reply

    Such beautiful blues 🙂

  2. Toonsarah
    | Reply

    Beautiful, and I was also interested to read about your editing processes.

    • Egídio Leitão
      | Reply

      Thank you! Feel free to ask, if you have any questions about my workflow.

  3. margaret21
    | Reply

    I didn’t know anything about Blue Bonnets so had to look them up. They looks a wonderful addition to your landscape.

    • Egídio Leitão
      | Reply

      They are the official state flower. It is a type of lupine. Thank you for writing.

  4. Rebecca Cuningham
    | Reply

    Bluuuuuebonnets! My fav.

  5. Wind Kisses
    | Reply

    Ah, yes. Wildflowers! Love it with the fence in it too.

    • Egídio Leitão
      | Reply

      Oh yes, Donna. the fence is a must for wildflowers, isn’t it. Thanks for the feedback.

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