Light Painting in the Brazos Drive In

Brazos Drive In Concession Stand

The Brazos Drive In is a working drive in theater here in Granbury that I thought would make a good light paining. Here's what I learned by making this picture of the concession stand.

1.  Here's the location on Google Maps to give you an idea of the surroundings. The high school sports complex is behind this building and all the lights were on.
2. The photo is from this angle as there was less light, a busy road is less than 100 yards behind the camera, as is more city lights from the fire station, apartment complex and residential areas.
3. 5 photographs, each with an 8 minute exposure, f11, ISO100 at 24mm.
4. I used an SB800 flash with a blue gel, triggered with Pocket Wizard Plus X. The flashes are hidden on the second row of chairs.
5. Doing some crappy math (which means I figure that since the flash is farther away at each successive station and would therefore need more light to be even), I started from camera left to right., I fired the flash 5 times at the first spot, 6 and the second, 7 at the third, lost count at fired maybe 12 at the fourth spot (should have fire 8) and then 9 at the 5th spot.
6. You can see the bright spot on the ceiling from too many flashes at the 4th station.
7. I started at 9pm. I should have waited until later, or another time so the background lights were less.
8. I should have taken a "no-flash" picture at a 3 to 5 minute exposure to have the interior lights dimmer.

Not a terrible photograph, but I'll shoot it again making some additional changes.