So I went to a garden...

These few images are HDR attempts that I tried.  

5D Mark II HDR.

5D Mark II HDR.  My stand was a picnic table.

This video is my first uploaded video.  I am attempting to show what I was seeing while I was at the garden.

So I went to "Star Trailing"...

I met with a group from Meetup.com on Sandy Beach.  We were there to take pictures of the stars during the absence of the moon.  As the weather is what it is, we were subject to it.  In this case, that meant we were unable to see the stars as the clouds were developing at the very position we were forming up at.  This is were we initiated our backup plan.  

The first picture shows a kite flying high with a light on it.  It was a long 62 second exposure that brought out the extended capture.  You can see the in the light trail between the red blinking light and the always on white light.  Just a small, neat detail.  

Canon 5D Mark II, 17-40mm set to 26mm, f/11 for 62 sec at ISO 200.

 Although the kite with lights was cool, I needed another focus for my attention.  Pictured next is the light painting I created with the help of a video light and a small little car as a model.  There is a lot going on here, but I learned so much in those quick 45 seconds.  I learned that you have to be pretty precise when calling your shots when it comes to light painting.  

Canon 5D Mark II, 17-40mm set to 40mm, f/11 for 45 sec at ISO 200.

Both of these images were taken straight from the camera.  I only reduced the size of the image for the sake of uploading them to the internet.  I did not change or alter any of the colors.  Now to get some more models and really give this light painting technique a dedicated effort...