Fort Mason & Presidio (Part 1) - San Francisco, CA

I recently took a trip Fort Mason the the Presidio area in San Francisco, CA on 10/10/2014. I have shot photos of Fort Mason, Golden Gate Bridge, and Fort Point National Historic Area. I know this was the day of the Blue Angles air show, but I had no clue it was that until I got there. The only lens I had with me was a wide angle lens, so no airplane photos this year. Sorry! I still hope you enjoy viewing these scenery photos though! If you've been following me on here long enough, some of these photos may seem familiar. That is because I have visited this place before and posted photos from it. You can view those photos here.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To view my best San Francisco, CA photos for 2014, use this link. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 

The photos for today are from Fort Mason and the Presidio area. Photos are of Fort Mason, the Golden Gate Bridge, some far away shots of Fort Point, and the main part of San Francisco.

First I start off with photos from Fort Mason. This is the grass area at Fort Mason. In the distance you can see the Golden Gate Bridge. There were some really nice looking clouds in the sky that day. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 48 18 N 122 25 45 W  

 A black and white process of the photo above.  

 A building at Fort Mason. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 48 21 N 122 25 46 W

This building looked like a church but I'm not sure. This is another photo shot at Fort Mason. 

 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 48 20 N 122 25 39 W

 A black and white process of the photo above. 

Now I arrive at Torpedo Wharf in Presidio. Here is a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge with fog at the top. On the left of this photo is Fort Point. On the right is Marin.  

 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 37 48 32 N 122 28 14 W

  A black and white process of the photo above.

 Another photo from Torpedo Wharf of the main part of San Francisco with the Bay Bridge on the left. 

   A black and white process of the photo above.

Another photo from Torpedo Wharf of the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point.  

 A black and white process of the photo above.

A more zoomed in photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point.  

A black and white process of the photo above.

Another photo shot the other direction on Torpedo Wharf of the main part of San Francisco. On the left is Alcatraz Island, and in the center is the Bay Bridge. 

This is all the photos for today! I will continue with photos from Fort Point National Historic Site next time. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 

Pleasanton Sports Park Birds and Squirrels

Last month our church had a picnic at the Pleasanton Sports Park. I was one of the photographers for them. :) (Yay! Talent finally recognized by a group of people. LOL) Anyways, I thought it would be great for me to utilize the time I was there to also take photos of the birds and squirrels there. I didn't take too much photos when I was there because:

1. I was taking photos for the church event.
2. There wasn't many birds or squirrels at the park.

So the church photos I took for them went to the church, and the other photos I took, I'm here to share with you! I hope you enjoy viewing these photos! Pleasanton Sports Park is located in Pleasanton, CA.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best Pleasanton photos of 2012, use this link. To see my best wildlife photos, use this link. To see all of my Pleasanton photos of 2012, use this link.

Quick Photography Lesson: See how the background is out of focus and has lots of circles? In photography, this is called the bokeh effect. Generally you will need some light source (don't have to be strong) to achieve this effect. To take a photo of this effect, you will have to shoot with a wide aperture (small f-stop number), and the part you want the effect to be has to be out of focus (use manual focus). On cheaper lenses, the bokeh may be a hexagon or some other shape instead of a circle. This is due to the less rounded cheaper aperture blades in cheaper lenses. Some people may even use this effect to do special effects. One of the most popular type of DIY effect is taking black construction paper and cutting a shape on it to change the bokeh. You can find out more about this by using Google and searching "diy custom bokeh". 

Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)

Stupid bird didn't turn around so here is a photo of its butt. 

The black phoebe standing on a fire hydrant in the middle of the park. 

Looks like the only bird I got a photo of in the park was the black phoebe... There really wasn't much wildlife there. Maybe they are hiding from all the people. 

The only squirrel I saw in the park that day... I saw a lot more back then in Fremont Central Park. Maybe not enough people are feeding them at this park... (Please don't feed the wildlife...)

This is all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed viewing today's post. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family! In the next post, I will begin my Monterey photos. I know a lot of you are looking forward to those so please check back often! I generally do one post every two to three days. Again, those times may change as I said in a post of mine before, college is starting for me, so I have been pretty busy.

Lake Chabot Regional Park

Hello, I recently visited Lake Chabot Regional Park because our church had a hiking trip there. I took some photos during my 5 mile hike to share with you people! Hope you enjoy!

As a tip to people that maybe going there, go hiking in the morning. I arrived there kind of late and the lighting for photography (and hiking) was not very good. By the time I got back to the car, it was very dark out. You don't want to be there very late as there are lot's of wildlife that may be dangerous to people. 

Lake Chabot Regional Park is located in Castro Valley, CA. Most of the landscape shots are shot at f/22.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best work for Lake Chabot Regional Park, use this link. To view all of my 2012 Lake Chabot Regional Park photos here.

A photo from the beginning of the hike. 

Close up of the island you see in the first photo. 

A lot more into my hike... Getting tired.

Since it takes very long for me to set up my photography equipment, I actually broke off from the main group. XD Apparently I took a wrong turn and this photo is actually almost at San Leandro. I later just went back the way I came. The main group went on a small trail that split from the main one. I ended up hiking 3 miles less.

Close up of flowers on the trail. 

First time experimenting with low angle photography. :) I was too lazy to get on the ground to take the photo, so I brought some USB cords and hooked it up onto my phone so I can see the DSLR's view from above. LOL Gotta love open source Android... 

Landscape shot when it was almost dark outside.

Exposure time: 2 Seconds

ISO: 100

Aperture: f/22

I hope you have enjoyed today's post. Please share this blog post with your friends! See you next time.