So I lucked out...

Canon 5d Mk ii, 15mm Fisheye, 35 minute exposure.

I lucked out in finding north.  North being the direction at the center of the circle.  I was also lucky in getting limited interference from the massive headlights just below the bottom of the frame.

I was freezing at the top of Mount Haleakala at 0450 in Maui, HI setting up this shot.  It was only 40-50 degrees, but the wind chill took the temperature down to the 30s.  Also, you can see where I bumped the tripod towards the end of the exposure.  It is the point where the trail turns up at the end.

Next time, I will bring more layers to keep warm and take multiple pictures instead of one long exposure.  Thinking back now, I wish I listened to a friend when she told me to take many smaller images instead of one long exposure.

My favorite part is next; planning for the next excursion.  Who's up for a little adventure...?

So I've been experimenting...

HDR, Canon 5d mk II, 17mm, merged in Photoshop CS5

Pano, Canon 5d mk II 17mm, combined in Photoshop CS5

With family in town, I've had a little extra time to test out some photography tricks (while someone else watches Eli).  I've been wanting to capture the vastness of the trees in Hawaii for a while. This attempt is done via hand holding the camera and panning to get the shot.  I trimmed a lot of excess away to get only what matters here.  Holidays are the best!

Here's to concentrating

Shot after dark.  Horrible lighting made me max everything out I could to just to get this one shot.  It reminds me that I shouldn't concentrate on the settings, but rather concentrate on the image.

Life is good.

So I finished uploading my pics...

All of these pictures were taken during my photowalk this last weekend.  I was out there with several other photographers all "shootin' and movin'" in support of Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk.

These pictures were all taken with the Canon 5D Mark II.  I was using the 50mm 1.2L and the 100mm 2.8L.

My focus during the photowalk, as mentioned during my previous post, was to see something a little different.  I saw the flowers, but what drew me in was the texture of the plants.  

Capturing the trees here is always a unique challenge I welcome.  This time I used the 15mm fisheye to bring in as much as I could.

So I went on a photo walk...

I think this may be the first picture I've uploaded that isn't a single picture on its own.  Of course it's a combination of several smaller pictures.  My main reason for doing this was to create something different from my normal candid shots.  I learned several new things from this walk as well.  But I'll save that for another post...

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...