Fine Art Color Urban Photograph by Brad Rickerby - California San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge

Photo by Brad Rickerby

Limited Edition Prints Available

The fog in San Francisco is so wonderful. It blocks out distracting backgrounds and imparts a sense of serenity both to the photograph and the photographer creating the image. The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the great icons of America. There are several view points from which it can be captured. I found this location in a great book about shooting in San Francisco, PhotoSecrets San Francisco & Northern California: The Best Sights and How to Photograph Them. If I remember correctly, I had to cross a nude bathing beach to get to this location (no one was there on this day because of the poor weather).

There are two important things to note about this image. First, from the standpoint of composition, the foreground wave is very important. The wave draws your eye into the picture and leads it gently up to the subject of the image which is the bridge. Also, the bridge placement in the image is at one of the hot spots defined by the thirds. The second important thing to note is that this image was created in poor weather. Good pictures do not always require bright sun and blue skies. In fact I find that the mood created by poor weather is often much more effective in the creation of great imagery. Further, the clouds will eliminate all the harsh shadows that are created by direct sunlight. Given the choice, many photographers, myself included, would prefer to shoot on a cloudy day than on a bright and sunny day. The clouds act, in effect, like a great big soft box and diffuse the light.

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