Fort Point

Golden Gate Bridge before sunrise

Another trip to San Francisco and a few more images from the area around the Golden Gate Bridge.  This time I concentrated on the southern side of the bridge in an area called Fort Point.  Fort Point is where the first ship to enter San Francisco Bay dropped anchor in August of 1775.  Unfortunately, I arrived there just in time for the iron door into the fort to be clanged shut in my face (literally), so I didn't get to see the inside.

Golden Gate Bridge around morning twilight

Perhaps next time I visit there, I can get an image of the top of the bridge sticking out above a fog layer.  For more images from the Golden Gate area, see my previous posts titled: Golden Gate at Sunrise, Golden Gate Bridge, and San Francisco.

Golden Gate at Sunrise

I had the opportunity to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge.  This was my first time at the bridge during sunrise.   As on my first visit, I was fortunate to have remarkably clear weather, although my shooting angle was essentially the same as the last photo in my second visit.   Since I was shooting into the sunrise, I was pretty much done by the time the sun actually rose above the horizon.   I was glad of this later when I encountered the traffic delay from an accident on the way to SFO for my late morning flight.

Golden Gate Bridge at Sunrise

This image is a merge of three images taken in portrait orientation and then combined using Photoshop CS5.  Each exposure is 30 seconds long.

Golden Gate Bridge

Panoramic of the Golden Gate Bridge

During another business trip to the San Francisco area in mid-December, I returned to the Golden Gate Bridge National Recreation Area to try and capture some images of the bridge from different angles.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I missed the overlook I was trying to find during my previous trip in September and wanted to try again. 

For the image above, I stood on top of a overlook off of Conzelman road for about an hour waiting for the sun to set.  I was praying the sun would pop out from the clouds/haze and illuminate the bridge just long enough for a few shots.  My prayer was answered about 30 minutes before sunset.  The sun stayed out just long enough for me to capture a set of 7 images, which I stitched together to form the panoramic above.  

While there, I also stopped by the Ridge Battery and Battery Spencer and captured the images below.  These were gun emplacements set up shortly after the Civil War to protect the San Francisco Bay.  You can still see the earthen walls they build to provide protection from enemy fire.

Golden Gate from the Ridge Battery

Golden Gate Bridge from Battery Spencer

San Francisco

I had the opportunity to travel to the San Francisco area on a business trip last week.  I had been wanting to capture an image of the Golden Gate Bridge, so after my plane landed late Wednesday afternoon, I hurried to try to get to the bridge before sunset.  Unfortunately I missed the overlook I was planing to go to and ended up further down by Fort Barry.  My first set images were clouded by the brown smog from the city.  

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

I also captured a view what I think is Rodeo Cove.  I captured 5 different exposures and combined then using Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro to give it a very ethereal feel.

Rodeo Cove

After leaving Fort Barry, I drove back to the Golden Gate Bridge area and found what appeared to be a fishing pier on the northeast side of the bridge.  It still wasn't the angle I was originally looking for, but it provided a nice view of both the bridge and the San Francisco skyline.

Golden Gate Bridge

For this last image of the Golden Gate Bridge, I used a long (~30 second) exposure and then processed the image in Adobe Photoshop Raw Converter to set the white balance to fluorescent to get the colors to look right.

San Francisco Skyline

Thanks for looking and I look forward to reading your comments.