USS Ronald Reagan

[Phil Myers]

Greetings APSO Cal'ers

First, I took over 5,000 pictures and only have got down to 650 keepers, so far..Please go to my smugmug site to view the pics...

I boarded the ship in Pearl Harbor Thursday, Oct 15th and arrived in North Island in Wednesday Oct 21st.  From an avaiation photography perpsective, I don't know what will top this!  It  was an incredible experience. With exception to being on the actual flight deck during flight ops, I had complete access to all of the boat.  I was able to shoot from the pri-fly, vultures row, and the fantail. 

Day One - one helo launch (this was the only flight ops we were able to view from the flight deck) and recovery.
Day Two - no flying
Day Three - air power demo practice flights and sea power demo
Day Four - air power demo
Day Five - maintenance flights
Day Six - air wing fly off
Day Seven - no flights - return home

The men and women of the USS Ronald Reagan were simply, great!  Very helpful and informative. 

Here's my link to view the pics. Go to the USS Ronald Reagan.   

                 http://philmyersphotography.smugmug.com/

Please let me know what you think. This was my first time shooting all RAW and processing them with NX2. 

Phil

[DaFalcon]

It looks like you had an amazing experience.  I'd be interested in hearing about any challenges you faced while shooting in that environment, things you might do differently if you had another chance, etc.   What equipment where you using?

One thing I noticed about some of you images was that there seemed to be some severe banding in the sky.  This can happen when using the highlight recovery too much in CNX2.  On the third page of images, the F-18 flyby with the gray clouds shows what I am talking about.  It was also noticeable on a few of the blue sky images later on.

Great job!   

[Midnight Mover]

Greetings APSO Cal'ers

First, I took over 5,000 pictures and only have got down to 650 keepers, so far..Please go to my smugmug site to view the pics...

I boarded the ship in Pearl Harbor Thursday, Oct 15th and arrived in North Island in Wednesday Oct 21st.  From an avaiation photography perpsective, I don't know what will top this!  It  was an incredible experience. With exception to being on the actual flight deck during flight ops, I had complete access to all of the boat.  I was able to shoot from the pri-fly, vultures row, and the fantail. 

Day One - one helo launch (this was the only flight ops we were able to view from the flight deck) and recovery.
Day Two - no flying
Day Three - air power demo practice flights and sea power demo
Day Four - air power demo
Day Five - maintenance flights
Day Six - air wing fly off
Day Seven - no flights - return home

The men and women of the USS Ronald Reagan were simply, great!  Very helpful and informative. 

Here's my link to view the pics. Go to the USS Ronald Reagan.   

                 http://philmyersphotography.smugmug.com/

Please let me know what you think. This was my first time shooting all RAW and processing them with NX2. 

Phil

Now that's what I call a real vacation And good choice, shooting all RAW.

[Mustang]

Impressive gallery! Thanks for sharing! It certainly looks like you had a blast. 

[phantomphan1974]

Great shots Phil!!  When I have more time will look at them all.  Were you able to zap anything?  Love the candid shots of the crew and pilots doing their "things".

[CHILIBEAN]

Phil those are some good shots 

[Phil Myers]

DeFalcon had asked about equipment and gear...Here's what I did. 

I knew I was going about 8 weeks prior to the trip.  I used that time to ask, via various aviation forums, what people used when shooting on a carrier.  I quickly learned that I had the right lens (a 70-200mm 2.8 and a 28-70 2.8mm) and body, a Nikon 300 with a D200 as a backup. 

I was encouraged to shoot RAW due to the wacky weather/lighting on the boat. I am glad I did because it was a lighting challenge.

I used a Think Tank fanny pack instead of a backpack. This was due to the tight areas(Vultures Row and/or the Pri Fly) in which I had to work from.  .  It was 50 / 50 in terms of shoot with either of the aboved mentioned lens. All the shots taken from the flight deck were shot with the 28-70.  The vast majority of the flight ops shoots were taken with the 70-200.  I loved the Think Tank bag. I will be using it for my one day shoots, such as airshows and NAFEC! 

Another concern was battery power! I was told I would have access to an AC but not knowing for sure what I would have I again researched my optiosn...What I came up with was using was the Sanyo Eneloop AA batteries with my D300 grip.  These were/are awesome batteries.  I took 4 sets and only use two (with power to spare). 

Lastly,  to do it all over again, I would take a 300-400mm to shoot the air power demo fly bys and the launch and recoveries. My 200mm was just a little "short"...Of course all in hindsight!

Overall, from a photgraphy standpoint I did very well with what I originally brought.. Adding a long lens with be gravy next time...

Sorry for the lenghy response...

Phil       

[raptorf22]

iI had not seen the gallery you did really good verry nice pics how did you get to go on a carrier actual cruise that would be a grat oportunity  to do that  even just to see the flight operations thak's for sharing the pics