Golden gate bridge
Long exposure of the golden gate bridge.
Long exposure of the golden gate bridge.
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May, 2015Views
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Landscapes In Black And White Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Made Of Steel Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Be My Tour Guide Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in City Bridges Photo Contest
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken from Marshall Beach in the Presidio of San Francisco, we got there by hiking the battery to bluffs trailTime
I was really looking forward to taking this image, we had hiked down to the beach the day before but we had not hiked all the way along the beach and around the big rocks due to the higher tide. We waited for the the tide to go out a bit and got around the rocks and continued hiking up the beach until we were close to the bridge with all the rocks in the foreground. It had been a mostly cloudy, cold and windy day but when we began the hike around 3pm the sky was opening up a bit and by the time we got there there were some nice breaks in the clouds, the clouds were moving at a good pace so it was just a matter of waiting until the sun was on the bridge. We stayed there for a few hours, this shot was towards the end of the day, around 5pm.Lighting
I knew I wanted to do a long exposure and so I was excited that there were still lots of clouds around so that I could get a long enough exposure to make the water look mysterious but there was enough clear sky that I would be able to show the movement of the clouds in the sky. I waited until there was enough of a break in the clouds that the bridge would be lit up for at least most of the 30 sec exposure I planned on.Equipment
I shot this with a Canon 5DM3 with the 24-105mm lens at f/11 I also used a Lee little stopper to hold back the light.Inspiration
I knew that one of the pictures I wanted to take while on vacation in San Francisco was of the Golden Gate bridge. I didn't want to go to the Marin side and started looking for images of the bridge and came across some taken from Marshall Beach, after that it was just a matter of actually hiking down to the bridge and finding the spot that made me happy.Editing
All RAW images need post processing, straight out of the camera they are flat and usually the color balance is not right, I always adjust the color balance and fix the highlights, shadows and contrast and in this case I wanted to do a black and white, since much of what I had seen was color, so I converted the full color image to B&W with Silver Efex Pro2In my camera bag
I always have way too much equipment in my backpack, under the theory that I never know what I'm going to run into. At minimum is my 5DM3, my 24-105mm f/4.0, 16-35mm f/2.8, 100mm f/2.8 macro and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses and my Infrared converted Lumix Gx7 with the 14-42mm lens. I also always pack filters, a bubble level, flashlight and if I'm going out in the woods alone in a place where it is legal, a can of mace.Feedback
Do your research, there are plenty of places that I looked at while planning our trip to San Francisco, I bought photography guides and browsed online photo shot spot places as well as looking at Google Earth and using tools like the Photographers Ephemeris and Focalware to find sunrise and sunset and moonrise/moonset times. Although the Golden Gate Bridge is an insanely popular icon and place to shoot and there are a million images of it online there is always a way to make the image yours. Find a different point of view, a different time of day, but no matter what you do stay safe.
