Photographing San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge

Capturing the Golden Gate Bridge by night

When I went to San Francisco, there was one photo that I wanted to capture before heading back to Canada and the -20 C winter weather we were having.  One night, after touring for the day, my mom and I drove across the bridge to Vista Point (which is on the other side of the bridge from where this photo was taken).

Since I almost never bring a tripod (can’t seem to find a good travel one) I wasn’t able to capture an image of the Golden Gate Bridge that was worth being put on my wall.  Luckily, as we were driving back to San Francisco, I saw a road that lead up into the Marin Headlands.  The road took me to the lookout that you see here.

Trouble shooting with where to put the camera, because I didn’t bring a tripod, was not working well for me.  I tried the on top of the car, but the hood kept showing up in the shot and it wasn’t straight; then the curb,which had safety wires in the shot.  Finally, just as I started driving down back towards the bridge, I noticed a square cement block that looked right out at the Golden Gate Bridge and was pretty much straight.  So, after a few minutes I captured this photograph (which is why the headlands are in the foreground, but I think it still looks great).

Photography tip – Getting warm colours

To get the warm orange colour in my photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge I used a cloudy white balance.  Without it, the colours are cooler and the sky is more blue; although it is called the Golden Gate Bridge.

Happy travels,

Yak