I was in and on the Saratoga, CV-3 in 2005. It is sitting on the bottom of Bikini Atoll in 180' of water. This was the first Saratoga, and before the one you were on. I have seen a carrier named Saratoga sitting in a shipyard up in Rhode Island, I think, as well. The one on the bottom of Bikini Atoll was one of 246 ships used to test Atomic Bombs on after WWII as the government wanted to see of the Navy might be obsolete after the war.. It sank after the 'Baker Blast' (the second atomic bomb that was tested in July of 46') Check out 'Operation Crossroads' if you want to see the 'Baker Blast' and some history of Atomic Bomb testing after WWII out in the Marshall Islands. For 'first accounts' from Sailors and Marines who were there during the testing (pretty gruesome stuff) check out "Radio Bikini" to see what happened to those poor servicemen.

As an X-Navy Boatswains Mate 66-69 (with zero days sea time) I did drive a 52' torpedo retriever while stationed in the Bahamas for 13 months. (67-68 Somebody had to do the jobs I was assigned to) I did get to spend about 8 hours in the tailwinds of Hurricane Beulah (67) in 16-18' seas. Turned us every which way but loose. 4 Sailors including myself each taking 20 minutes at the wheel trying to keep the boat off the reef. It was exhausting work. When we finally got inside the breakwater of the base and could drive the boat straight, the CO and the XO and several other sailors were waiting on the dock to congratulate us for not getting smashed up on the reef. After that celebration, the 4 of us were restricted to the base for 30 days as none of us had a life jacket on. They were up in a hold on the bow and none of us could get to them. (Luckily our XO was a Mustang Officer and he got us off the restriction after 7 days.) Oh the Memories

Loved the quotes and the amazing photography

Just wanted to say Thanks Dave. Firmware updates are not the frontmost thoughts on my mind when I use my camera. I was only two versions out of date, but as of now, I am up to date thanks to your reminder. I appreciate that somebody thinks of things I forget about and makes sure that I am up to date as well. One of the great things about UHH is how the photographers take of one another on this site. Thanks again Dave.

I have been checking out video's and information about Iceland for several months as I prepare for an 18-21 day trip later this year. Very high on my bucket list of places to take my camera. Drones and Drone photography seems to be the hot thing at the moment, but any and all of my photos will be from ground level. Thanks for this video.

Thanks everybody for your replies. I actually did put the combination together with the 1.4X connected to the 70-200mm and next in line was the 2X. I used my D810, a RRS tripod, a cable release and took about 150 photos. Some were very soft because I started with an ISO of 64 and slowly worked it up to about 2500 so I could shoot using faster speeds as the birds were all on the move and the wind was blowing. As I looked at the photos I actually found the Blue Heron I could not see with my naked eye and did not notice till I saw the photos. Not something I would do all the time, but thought I would try it. For me that is what photography is about. Taking photos and trying new things. Enjoy your photography.

Thanks everyone. It was just a crazy thought that went through my brain (shows you how much room there is there) :-)

I was just up at a Wildlife Mgt. area and there was a gentleman next to me with a Canon 7D and a 600mm F/4 lens and a 2X teleconverter on it. There are about 50,000 snow geese migrating and 20,000 swans migrating and all congregating around the lake. I asked him what he figured his magnification at and he said the 600 mm + the 2X converter would give him 1200mm equivalent and then with the crop factor it would be just over 1900mm. He was actually photographing just the heads of the swans (as they were the closest birds, and they were still quite a-ways away) but he also showed me a photo he had taken of a Great Blue Heron that I really could not even see on the far side of the lake. It got me to thinking about my own equipment. So here is the question. If I had used my Nikon D7000 (1.5 crop factor) and add a 2X and a 1.4X converter with my 70-200 f/2.8 lens, what would be the equivalent focal length in mm? (hope that is the right terminology) If I do the math one way and multiply the 200 mm by the 2X it would equal 400mm equivalent. The the next would be the 1.4X which would take the 400mm to a 560mm equivalent, and then add the crop factor of 1.5 that would give me an 840 mm equivalent lens. But if I add the 2X + 1.4X + 1.5 crop factor together and get a 4.9X equivalent magnification, which when multiplied with the 200mm and gives me a 980mm equivalent factor. Which would be right? What would the proper shutter speed if I used a 1/focal length as the lowest shutter speed. Now I did use the set-up and just used a 64 ISO on a bright sunny day and took some photos using the spot metering withing the camera to take photos. I also varied the photos by using several stops using up to a -1 EV just to get a range of pictures, (the birds are bright white and they were actually too far to get anything more for me than group shots using this setup) plus I used my D810 full frame camera and not my D7000, but was just wondering if someone could guide me with the question. Should I calculate an 840mm or 960mm or are my calculations totally wrong? Just a thought for future reference.

at age 69 I scored 33 first time. two more tries took me to 26 and 24. Practice, practice, practice

Intercourse, PA is right next to Paradise PA.

I hate spell check. HIs name is Ben Willmore, not Fillmore. (it did it again while I was typing this)

I am in the same boat as you. CreativeLive.com has many courses that I now own. PhotoshopCC: The complete Guide with Ben Willmore is the course I would suggest. He has several courses and I like his style of teaching. It is a video course with everything included in the course materials as well. If I miss something I just go back and check it out again. CreativeLive is a great place to obtain videos on many different areas. Even though I use Lightroom all the time, I bought Ben Fillmore's course on Lightroom as well and it came with over 400 awesome presets which he shows you how to use as well. If you sign up at CreativeLive they let you know when courses are presented live and those courses are free.

I wonder how hard it would have been if a person had never ridden a bike before and had no knowledge of how to ride a bike. Just a thought.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone. I do appreciate all your guidance. I do love this website.

Basically, I like to see other photographers work. I try to see how they composed something or see what other photographers find interesting. I don't think my photography is something others would be interested in as I am still heavy on the learning curve although I have been taking photos for about 50 years. It is only recently that I am trying to learn travel and landscape photography instead of snapshot photography. That is the reason I joined this website. I look at others photos and am amazed and the quality of many many of the photographers on this site. I also read the Q & A sections so I can learn as well. I have been all over the world over the past few years and when I come home and get a chance to see my photos on a 27-inch screen, I see my errors and try to learn from them. One day perhaps I will be able to capture photos that I can share on this site as well.