Golden Gate Sunrise Photoshoot

Let's get a little more serious about photography. This post will be lengthy and filled with info and techniques. If you make it all the way down to the end, you might be rewarded!

Now that you are up to speed with the Wine Tasting and Pacific Coast Highway segments, it's time for the last part of this first birthday weekend celebration. If you remember, I had high hopes of getting sunset shots of the Golden Gate Bridge but was instead welcomed by dense fog and freezing temperatures. I therefore decided to wake up very early to get sunrise shots.

Chapter A, Part III: Golden Gate Sunrise Shots

This time I decided to do a little more homework to make sure I'd come back with some decent pictures. Ironically, the main issue with the sunset shot was the fog. Not knowing how to predict it, I did some Google research and read that there were slight chances of low fog rolling under the bridge, which would be amazing. All I knew for sure is that it would be cold though!

The other part of the homework is location. I use the app The Photographer's Ephemeris on my iPhone and iPad every time I want to control my framing with the sun or the moon. It is an essential tool for any landscape photographer as the app tells you where the sun and moon will be, anywhere, anytime. I used this app specifically to predict where the Supermoon (May 5th 2012) would rise so I could place it right over downtown Los Angeles.

The sun and moon on May 27th 2013 at the Golden Gate Bridge. More info here.

The app allows you to drop a red pin anywhere on a map. You then select a date, May 27th 2013 in this case, and thick lines are drawn from the red pin showing you where the sun will crawl over the horizon (yellow), where it will set (orange), where the moon will rise (light blue) and where it will hide (dark blue). The thinner lines show you the position of the sun (yellow) and moon (dark blue) at any given time. In this example, I know the sun will rise at 5:51am (yikes). And at 7:08am, from the red pin location, it will be to the right the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge at 13.3 degrees up in the sky.

Using the app, I started looking for a spot where I could get the sun and the bridge in the same composition. Since I didn't have a boat handy, the only land option was at the tip of the stretch of land you see under the red pin (in the picture above). This is Point Diablo Lighthouse. It's nested on a cliff 653ft under the closest road. It's a half mile steep hike through bushes, rocks and cliffs with no trail whatsoever. As a matter of fact, it's said to be only accessible by sea. Since I didn't have a boat handy, again, and I didn't want to die figuring out a way to get down there in the dark, I decided to go to the Battery Spencer spot instead just west of the bridge. I abandoned the idea of having the sun in the frame.

To the dismay of my girlfriend, I slid out of the bed at 4:00am and got on the road. It was overcast and didn't look like the weather would cooperate again. But to my surprise, I arrived at the Golden Gate with no clouds in sight! It was now time to look for a spot and start shooting. I walked passed Battery Spencer and down the cliff a little (I don't recommend this, do it at your own risk) to get an unobstructed view.

The shooting spot, later in the morning.

I setup my tripod and used a 24mm prime for all of the following pictures (fixed lenses make better pictures).

Golden Morning Lights

Golden Gate Bridge Shadows Fine prints available

This was one of the first shots at 5:03am. It's a 30 second exposure at f/5.6 and ISO 100. The long exposure smoothened out the water and enhanced the nifty looking shadows under the bridge. With long exposures, make sure you have a sturdy tripod and use a remote control or the timer on your camera. Pressing the shutter button can create enough camera shake to make a picture blurry.

The colors, contrast and sharpness were very slightly adjusted in Lightroom, but the picture came out of the camera looking almost exactly like this. And by the way, this is the JPEG version. I shot both in RAW and JPEG but ended up with something looking just like this after tweaking the RAW version. Yay for JPEG!

This picture was way before the sun rose so I kept shooting to keep warm, which honestly doesn't really keep you warm...

Soothing Bridge

Soothing Golden Gate Bridge Fine prints available

Eventually the sun passed the horizon but hid behind clouds far northeast. Its shy presence barely colored the sky and none of its rays were hitting the bridge. Three one minute exposures were combined to create this photo (HDR, to get more details in the highlights and shadows). This really smoothens out the water and clouds. Be careful with exposures longer than 30 seconds as you might end up with hot pixels.

Since the sun wasn't playing nice, I decided to experiment a little more.

Purple Sunrise

Golden Gate Bridge Purple Sunrise Fine prints available

I screwed on a Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue polarizer. This particular filter works just like any other polarizing filter but it adds dramatic colors to your picture. As you spin it around, the colors change from gold to blue. This was one of the first times I've played with this filter.

It was an interesting picture to create. I spent a little while spinning the filter around to get the best effect but couldn't quite achieve what I wanted. I took many pictures with the sky colored blue, grey, purple and the waters colored blue, orange or grey. In some of those the sun broke through the clouds and lit the bridge's north tower. I was able to get a shot of the bridge with the tower lit up and the color combination I liked but the little boat under the bridge was almost out of the frame and the sky wasn't as dramatic. Using Photoshop, I copied the sunlit tower from one of the pictures and pasted it into the picture above. The combination of those two pictures, taken just a few seconds apart, creates a much more powerful shot.

That was pretty much the last worthy shot I could get from this shooting spot. By that time, it was 6:31am and the colors were getting duller. It was time to pack and leave.

Bay Sunrise

San Francisco Bay sunrise

On my way out, I snapped this picture of the sunrise. It was taken at 6:43am. Do you remember Point Diablo Lighthouse? At that time, from that red pin location, the sun would have been exactly above the bridge's north tower. Imagine the sky and background above with the Golden Gate Bridge in front! That's what I was aiming for. Maybe I'll rent a boat next time, though mooring at the lighthouse is probably illegal...

Golden Arms

Golden Gate Arms and Clouds Fine prints available

Remember also the different perspective I got from the night before? I took a similar picture of the south tower as I was passing underneath. This picture was snapped with my Fuji X100S, always ready to shoot. It contrasts with the others with it's simplicity and new angle. It also looks like the bridge is trying to hug you with it's lanky red arms.

This chapter concludes Part A of my birthday celebration (here are links to Sonoma Wine Tasting and Driving PCH). Stay tuned for Part B, Chapter I: wakeboarding in Big Bear.

If you made it all the way down here, you deserve the promised reward, a medal or something. Since I ran out of those, I'll give you a special discount valid only for exceptional readers like you. Use the code awesomereader for %30 off any order in my portfolio!

Thank you for reading.