thanks for the compliment guys. for a quick DIY...
this is a combination of 4 photos, also known as an HDR photo. this can be faked in photoshop but the results aren't that great. to make pictures like this you really need at least 3 - better 5 pictures of the exact same shot, taken at different exposures.
for this one - i set my tripod on the shot and then took 4 different pictures - one dark exposure, one kinda dark, one normal, and one bright exposure.
i combined these pictures (very simple in photoshop - go to file>automoate>merge to hdr pro) in photoshop - selected how i wanted to bring out the colors, and this is the end result.
the photo itself is unedited - I actually have too shallow a DOF in that you can't read the date (it's 4.8.2010).
for those really into cameras it was shot with, as correctly noticed a Canon T2i, in Raw, with a Sigma 17-70 2.8-4 lens.