California Photo Scout

San Francisco Skyline

The best skyline view of San Francisco is from Treasure Island, an artificial island in the San Francisco Bay. Originally built for the 1939 expo, Treasure Island is open to the public, although owned by the Navy. Its windswept location in the bay makes it a chilly place, even in the summer.

How to get there

From San Francisco, take I-80 East towards Oakland. You will cross the Bay Bridge on the lower deck. Stay in the left lane until you get to the Treasure Island Exit, which turns very sharply to the left.

Here is the exit in Google Street View. Drive straight until you get to the gate. Just before the gate, you can turn left through the center divider into the parking lot and viewing area (see GPS data).

GPS position

Treasure Island:

• 37°48’54.89″N 122°22’16.86″W

How to photograph San Francisco from Treasure Island

San Francisco from Treasure Ilsand

Treasure Island is a good location for panoramic photography and for night photography.

Shooting at Night

A tripod is necessary for night shooters. Get a sturdy tripod with good support and a good head (tripod advice). Use a cable release and enable your camera’s mirror lockup feature and long exposure noise reduction (or dark frame subtraction).

Technical Stuff:

Most SLR have a mirror that directs light to the viewfinder or the sensor. Some models (micro four thirds) have an electronic viewfinder instead. To take the picture, the mirror has to flip, letting light pass to the sensor.

To minimize vibration caused by the mirror movement you can enable the mirror lockup. When you press the shutter-release-cable button once, the mirror flips. Wait a few seconds to be sure that the vibrations have died down and press the button again to take the picture.

The noise reduction feature will take a second exposure, while blocking light to the sensor. The resulting image will contain the same amount of noise. The camera simply calculates the difference between both frames to reduce the noise in the image. Since noise has stochastic properties (thermal noise) and deterministic properties (stuck pixels), the camera can only remove parts of the noise. If you enable noise reduction and take a long exposure, your camera will become unusable for the same amount of time after your shot, but the increased image quality is worth the wait.

Exposure

The correct exposure at night may be tricky. Set your camera to exposure priority and stop your lens down from the maximum aperture. Your camera does not know that you are using a tripod and will try to open up the aperture to compensate for the low light condition. Lenses are sharper when stopped down, even if you do not need the depth of field from here. An aperture of f/7.1 or f/8 is a good starting point. Use your camera automatic to figure out the exposure time. Most cameras have a maximum automatic exposure of 30s. If 30s is blinking, you can either open up the aperture some more (f/6.3 or more) or you can use manual exposure time (B setting).

Evaluate your histogram! Bright light sources and dark surroundings can easily throw off your camera light meter. If you want to capture detail in the highlights or shadows, you need to adjust accordingly.

Shooting during the Day

I still recommend using a tripod during the day, especially when you are using a long lens stopped down with filters applied. Exposure times can be too low for handheld shooting. Using a tripod gives you more time to set up straight shots. Long lens pictures tend to have tilted horizons, caused by the movement of pressing the shutter release button.

In my article “San Francisco Skyline from Twin Peaks” I wrote a detailed description on Panorama Shooting techniques which can be very handy at this location, too.

On the other side of the land bridge, you can photograph the sailboats with the Oakland section of the Bay Bridge and the construction of the new Bay Bridge.

Best Time of the Day and Best Season

Summer often brings fog during the early morning and afternoon hours. Some fog can add to the mood of the image, but there is a chance that you will not see anything. The best shooting is from late afternoon until late at night.

Time required

It is hard to predict how long it will take you to get here due to varying traffic. It takes at least one hour to try out all the different exposures and some close-ups at night. Thirty minutes is sufficient during the day.

Equipment

• Tripod
• Cable Release for Night Shots
• Flash light for Night Shots
• Telephoto Lens
• Normal Lens
• Jacket (the wind can sweep the bay with icy cold winds)

Fees

Driving from San Francisco to Treasure Island or Yerba Buena Island and back to San Francisco is free. The toll station is located on the other side near Oakland. Missing the exit will cost you $4 bridge toll and help to retrofit the bridge for earthquake protection.

Close Locations

• Ferry Building Farmers Market
• Pier 7
• Fisherman’s Wharf
• Pier 39
• Financial District
• Alcatraz
• Bay Views from Berkeley
• Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill
• Chinatown
• Mt. Diablo

Useful Resources

• Google Street View of the Treasure Island Exit (left)
• Treasure Island Information Page
• Bay Bridge Information

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