Summer Time Blues 2008-06-11

Everyone knows that summers can be pretty slow for photography...

However in Arizona the desert really comes alive. It's when all the plants
actually turn green, despite the 110+ temperatures, the lack of rain
and the massive amounts of pollution being dumped into the air from
Phoenicians ;)

So I'm doin this cause I want y'all to buy my photos and I heard that bloggin's pretty cool so I'm giving it a whirl.. those of you that been doin it a while can probably tell i'm a n00b to this, but I'm sure like everything else, it'll get better with time ;) Here's some photo's, if you wanna buy em, give me a call, or e-mail ;)

These ones are from a trip I took with Me Espocita - Robyn, to HorseShoe Bend outside of Page Arizona. I'm an idiot too cause I didn't realize Antelope Canyon was there as well and didn't plan for that in the trip!



















Joel Hanger Photography
623-640-8720
jhanger@gmail.com

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Stock Images... 2008-06-13

Yesterday I was at my wife's work. They were having water day with the kids and I had fun taking photographs. It's amazing once you start looking into stock photography what you can actually find in places you go. There was all sorts of things, all over the playground, out in the field, in the trees... I've always loved doing macro photographs, but some of the things I discovered as subjects I think have been my funnest to date! :) With the sun back lighting a basketball hoop I had to have it!




When I investigated the Palo Verde tree's along a back wall I discovered the pea pods in a very unique shape, could it be the famed golden ratio in which this ball is clustered? Have any of you ever seen a pea pod to a Palo Verde tree curl in such a way before?

Perhaps one of the most intriguing picture, at in my opinion, is the splitter connection on the hoses that fed the water to the slip'n'slides and the large blow up water slides. The kids had so much fun I wish I could post some of the pictures of their faces as they went through the water spraying down on the slides...

Anyway I hope you all have found these pictures curious enough, and maybe even inspiring, hah. Perhaps I'll add more later, but these will have to do for now.



Joel Hanger Photography
http://joelhanger.com/
jhanger@gmail.com
623-640-8720
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Life in the "green" lane? 2008-07-05

So it's been a while since I posted... woops, life sorta took off on me quickly... a few things to talk about now! Working for Brinkster. They're awesome! Linux guru on his way to the top! For now, I'm sticking with tech support, pay my time and help people out in the mean time, get paid for it... Not a bad deal at all!! :)

Ovation Photography! Also doing weddings for them... Excellent company! Thank you Bob! I photographed my first wedding under Ovation Photography this last weekend, and Me Espocita and I are moving on up to a nice place closer to my work and her work! Things are looking on the Up and Up! Yehoshua (Jesus) is still on His throne ruling the nations with His rod of Iron and we're all still rebelling... Nothing new!

Image linked from:
Honda Worldwide Article
So I'm looking and I see these ads on tv for this new "Hydrogen powered, Zero Emission Honda".... Yah, bout time they finally got a clue, hydrogen carbeuration has been around since carbeurators and only when they think the worlds in a crisis do they decide to pull out that ace they've had up their sleeves.... It's pricy, I looked at it. $600 to lease, though when you think about the benefits, 0 emission, cheap gas, very efficient AND they do all the maintenance for the 3 years you get it, it's not too shabby... I think we'll be seeing more of these cars in the future!

Last but not least... I've been working on a new layout and design for JoelHanger.com I'm moving away from a "photography service" company and more towards providing a Photography Forum as well as Guitar Forum... yes that's right for those of you who don't know, I'm also fairly decent at guitar, I'm not entirely a scales master, but been working on that and also on my Perfect Pitch Ear ;) Which has yet to get anywhere near perfect!!!




Joel Hanger Photography
http://joelhanger.com/
jhanger@gmail.com
623-640-8720 (more...)

Internet Finally & Why Direct TV SUCKS! 2008-07-31

We finally got internet and T.V. at the apartment! Do I have a story for you! After 4 weeks of waiting I've decided to tell you all how much Direct TV SUCKS! Yeah... they're about as worthless of a company as any I have tried to get service from. After 4 weeks of them putting me off and running me through a ton of circus hoops I finally decided to just go with Cox. I called Cox, purchased the services, picked up the gear and 1 day later I had T.V. and cable. How convenient is that. Instead of waiting 30 days and having 3 techs come out and say, we can't mount this H.D. Receiver Dish on a tripod, and then say, well we can it'll cost you $100, then the next one say, we can't do that, then they say, we can for $50, then say they can't, then say they can, and on and on like the energizer bunny. So within the week I'll be reporting what kind of shoddy service Direct TV provides to the BBB. I'm a patient person, and 4 weeks is more than sufficient time to allow a company to quit bumbling over their own issues and provide service. Anyway! I finally have working television and internet, no thanks to DirectSUCK TV!


So I have some more pictures, I've been doing some more experimentation with post processing of So I have some more pictures, i've been doing some more experimentation with post processing of HDR images as well as multi-exposure merges. I think the results are quite unique and very fun. I've found some places around the apartment complex that really have a nice photogenic touch, but ONLY when photographed at night! I've always had a love for night time photography and long exposures. I think it started when I first saw a picture of star trails around the north star! Those are so awesome and fun to take when they turn out :)


There's just something about long exposures at night that really amazes me. There's an atmosphere that you can capture that just is not there with the extreme luminosity of the sun. Maybe it's the harsh shadows caused by the sun, or the soft light from the stars and the ambiance of the overall city lights. Whatever it is, as you can see, the night time provides a whole different look to the photo's, and when done right, HDR can produce some really unique, beautiful photo's!



Along with the improvement to the way I take long exposures at night, I also have watched some dvd's on studio lighting as well as how to improve the use of natural lighting in portraits and weddings. I've applied some of these techniques to taking photo's not just of weddings and portraits but also of objects. I started with the dress that my queen will be wearing when she walks down the isle and I think the results turned out very pleasing!










The last thing I will daunt you with is I finally got a NEW car. Not just "new to me" but a "bran spankin new" car! I know it's not the greatest but it will work for a while so I can save money and trade up. After my truck almost completely ate it on me. My 1997 Ford Expedition seemed at the end of it's road. With a mere 94k miles on it you would think this thing had some life left in it. However I wasn't willing to fork up the thousands of dollars that it needed to keep going. It needed rear air bags (suspension) as well as the individual ignition coils were going out. At $50 a piece no one wants to spend $400+ on 8 ignition coils. So without further ado and slamming of my truck, my new vehicle is a Kia Spectra. It gets 35mpg which is insanely better than the 12mpg I was getting with the Expedition! Anyway, the saved money left room for higher payments and assurance that I won't be having to do any work to a vehicle for a couple years! :) I was told by someone that Honda took over production of Kia's, so that was reassuring, though I haven't confirmed this yet. Either way, got a new car, no worries bout breakdowns for a long while and saving money! Life's journey on this planet is looking good! Can't wait till the return of Yehoshua when the outlook will ALWAYS be good! :)

Shalom! (more...)

Lightning Photography! 2008-08-16

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My favorite aspect of photography is definately Lighting Photography. It can at times be some of the most difficult types of photography, yet when it comes together, it's THE Most Rewarding! One of the most rewarding aspects it the fact that everyone thinks you're this mastermind photographer and have reflexes that put cats to shame! I'm going to help all you aspiring lightning photographers in revealing some of the secrets to lightning photography that show that, you could have the reflexes of a dead person and get some of the most rewarding lightning photographs of your lifetime :)

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In Arizona we have very few chances to actually capture lightning storms, so when they do come, there's a few things that fall into play. First you have to be ready and have the free time to photograph the storm. If the storm rolls through the valley and only hits the east side of the valley and you live on the west, is it worth driving to the storm? The other factor is, where can you photograph the storm and be safe? Which is why it's best when the storm comes to you. Since the danger for lightning strikes is once you are within range of hearing the thunder, it's best to photograph the storm from a safe location such as your home.

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There are a couple of methods for actually photographing the lightning. What determines the method is all dependent upon how light it is outside. The above method was taken by capturing 2 second long photographs as fast as the camera could, pointed in the direction of the most active area of the storm. This is basically a point, shoot, and pray method. Due to the overwhelming amount of ambient light, 30 second exposures, let alone 10 second exposures just weren't an option. This brings us to the next method of photographing lightning.
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The "other" method of photographing lightning has very little to do with timing and all to do with where the most active location of the storm is. Again depending on the amount of ambient light you may be going anywhere from 10+ second. With longer exposure times you have many more chances to capture the lightning as well as multiple bolts. Probably the largest key to getting the right exposure is the speed of the lens. You should always have your lens' F-Stop wide open at it's fastest. Because Lightning is extremely fast, it makes it a lot harder to actually capture properly. I've only actually over-exposed lightning once and this was due to the distance and the size of the bolt. The thunder was instantaneous and the impact nearly knocked my camera and myself over.


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Now that we've established the method of getting the bolts into the sensor, here are some ideas and tips to improve the quality of the photography.

Multi-Exposure Compositions:

• Take many long exposures facing one location. This will enable you to use Photoshop, or your favorite image editing software to "blend" the images together and make it appear that there were more lightning strikes in the time exposed than were actually there. This is not really "cheating" but rather, altering and enhancing to improve the point of view of the scene.

• Once you have many images exposed and setup, the best method i've found is to use layers in Adobe Photoshop. The steps are simple, copy and paste into a new layer, each image from the series you've taken. Secondly, start changing the layer blending modes to "Lighten" on each image above the bottom layer. You may find you have to create layer masks and edit what's seen if there are moving bushes or shrubs, but for the most part there is no further modification needed.

Creating Sharper Images:

• Block any wind going towards camera with your body
• Use a STURDY Tripod - Long Exposures are Prone to vibrations
• Use 2 Tripods - if you're using a long lense
• Use a Remote Trigger - OR - Use a Timer - Avoids shutter button depress vibrations

Good luck with your Lightning Photography Adventures... If any of you reading this find this helpful and have some improved lightning photographs or want to shar e them don't hesitate to post them!!

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On Camera Fill Flash
Used to light RxR Sign
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Cemex Factory in Buckeye, AZ
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