San Francisco Photoshoots

Locations

Where to shoot in San Francisco

The Golden Gate Bridge has four genuinely different viewpoints. Battery Spencer looks down on it from the Marin side and is the classic. Crissy Field puts it at the end of a beach with the city behind you. Fort Point sits directly underneath the span. Marshall's Beach gives you the bridge from the rocks below, and takes a walk to reach.

Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies give you the Victorian row with the downtown towers behind — a single composition that only exists from one patch of grass.

The Palace of Fine Arts is the Roman rotunda and colonnade beside a lagoon, and it is the best wet-weather and overcast location in the city.

Baker Beach sits below the Presidio with the bridge framed to the north, and it is the one to use when Crissy Field is crowded.

Lombard Street, the Presidio woods and Chinatown's lanterns and fire escapes round out the set, each giving a completely different San Francisco.

Timing

Summer is the foggy season, not the clear one

This is the thing visitors get wrong. June, July and August are the coldest and foggiest months in San Francisco. The fog rolls in through the Golden Gate in the afternoon and often sits there all day.

September and October are the warmest, clearest months of the year and the best time to plan a shoot around the bridge being visible.

Even in the fog season, early morning is usually the clearest window, before the marine layer pushes back in. A seven o'clock start is a real advantage here.

And fog is not the enemy. The bridge towers rising out of a low layer is a better photograph than a clear blue sky, as long as you planned for it.

What to wear

It is colder than the forecast

The city is cool and windy year-round, and the exposed spots — Battery Spencer, Baker Beach, the bridge approaches — are colder again. Layers are not optional, even in August.

Strong colour works against the grey of fog and the orange of the bridge, though pure red competes with the span itself. Deep blue, white and cream all hold up well.

The hills are steep and many of the best angles involve a walk on sand, gravel or a steep path. Shoes that can handle it make the difference between four locations and two.

Before you go

Much of this is national park land

The Presidio, Crissy Field, Baker Beach, Fort Point and the Marin headlands all sit within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which is federal park land. Commercial photography there can require a permit depending on the nature of the shoot, and the rules are different from city parks. We establish what is needed before confirming anything.

Alamo Square is a small public park in a residential neighbourhood with posted rules, and the patch of lawn with the classic view is modest and often occupied.

Battery Spencer has very limited parking on a narrow road and fills early. It is best reached at the start of the day.

Lombard Street is a residential street carrying traffic, photographed from the pavement rather than the roadway.

Arranging it

How a San Francisco shoot gets booked

San Francisco shoots are arranged directly with our team rather than booked online. Tell us your dates, how many of you there are and which views matter most, and we will confirm what can be arranged and what it will cost.

If the bridge is the point of the shoot, give us an early slot and a flexible morning. That is the honest way to get it clear.