San Francisco by Night – Great Spots to Photograph the City
San Francisco is a beautiful city. San Francisco by night, even more so. It has amazing views with lots of things to capture. I am constantly seeking new ways to see the places I visit often and that includes San Francisco. And while I sometimes struggle to find ways to express this difference, Mr. Misadventures seems to have a knack for it when it comes to photos.
Seeking out interesting ways to capture the familiar has resulted in evenings in San Francisco capturing some of the classic sites by night.
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Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts which is a wonderful place to visit and a great venue for events is absolutely gorgeous by day. At night it takes on a whole other appearance.
Lombard Street
Lombard Street, “the crookedest street in the world” is quite popular with San Francisco tourists. The homes along the road are beautiful and the views of the city are spectacular. By night the cars that are constantly traversing this area add really cool effects to photos.
Bay Bridge
The city views are quite impressive too! You can see Coit Tower and the Bay Bridge lighting up the sky.
And in my opinion, the Bay Bridge looks a lot more impressive by night than by day!
San Francisco from Treasure Island
There are also great shots of the city to capture from Treasure Island. If you scope out a good spot – and there is lots of competition – and wait for the sunset, you can get some great shots.
The city has extra lights for the holiday season so it is gorgeous! The building by itself off to the right is the famous TransAmerica Building. It is the tallest building in San Francisco. You can't take the light at the top for granted, it is not lit all the time and not every year.
There are many more places to go, but these are some of my favorite places to photograph San Francisco by night.
I didn't write much about our last trip to Paris, so I didn't get a chance to share some of the gorgeous evening photos that Mr. Misadventures took, like this one of the Assemblée Nationale from Place Concorde. I found a really great post from Arzo Travels on beautiful spots in Paris by night and I am inspired to do more evening photos on our next trip. I just have to convince Mr. Misadventures to not do so many sunrise shoots!
How about you? What is your favorite city by night?
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Gorgeous!
I like the looks of Paris but I did enjoy San Francisco as well in Union Square dinning on the sidewalk at Cafe Presse.
Otherwise anyplace where there’s water and old buildings lit up at night is perfect for me.
@Murissa, I have not thought about the area around Cafe Presse for night time photos, should be great!
He is a really great photographer! That picture of the bridge is memorable. They all are, but I really like that one.
The curvy and steep city of lights? Maybe!
@Charu, do you like to take night photos?
San Francisco and Paris for me! I always thought the Palace of Fine Arts was beautiful, but never saw it at night. Gorgeous pictures!
@Patrice, me neither, it is gorgeous at night as well!
These are such gorgeous photos… but SF is such a beautiful city. I’m sure it would be hard to make her look unappealing. Also, the food there was TOP NOTCH. Can’t wait to go back and gorge some more on all that seaside food.
@Colleen, we definitely don’t have a lack of food options here!
Oh my goodness – if I ever get to realize my dream of living in Northern California, I will be hitting you up to purchase that print of the Bay Bridge at night. Gorgeous!!
@Katie, photo blog coming soon!
Amazing photos! The way you captured the light and the composition of each picture is remarkable. Looking forward to seeing more, Cheers!
@TheDrunkenPig, thanks!
The City definitely looks magical in those gorgeous photos. Glad you got to see the new “Lights” installation on the Bay Bridge, too. It’s mesmerizing and supposedly no pattern ever repeats.
I’ve always wanted to visit San Francisco! These photos are absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing!