Point Bonita Lighthouse – Marin Headlands, San Francisco

Fog rolls in on Point Bonita Lighthouse, Marin Headlands, San Francisco. Shot with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 28-70mm lens at 35mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 1/30th of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. The coastline along California is one of the most beautiful in the world. I have had the opportunity and pleasure to shoot there on several occasions. What fascinates me about this coastline is the distinct edge that occurs between land and water. Today’s image will give you some idea how severe this edge can be. This is the Point Bonita Lighthouse located in the Marin Headlands, just across the bay from San Francisco. The lighthouse sits at the end of the Headlands and guards the entrance into the bay.

On this day I went to shoot more intimate shots of the lighthouse but found it was closed for the day. Undeterred I hiked up to an overlook point that gave me a different perspective that I had not seen before. I really liked the relationship between the small lighthouse rooted in the rocks and the massive cliff. The wind was quite brisk from my vantage point so I lowered my tripod to get the camera closer to the ground to block some of the wind. I also positioned my body between the camera and the wind direction to create a wind break. And then I just waited for the light to change. The afternoon fog began to roll in and soon enveloped the lighthouse. At one point I could barely make out the point and the lighthouse. With this image I waited for the fog to clear slightly and for the lighthouse light to come into position. A tiny bit of subtle sunlight filtered by the fog just hit the cliff as I fired the shutter.

Processing of this image was kept to a minimum to maintain the atmospheric nature of the shot. After RAW processing in Lightroom the image was finished in Photoshop but setting a White and Black Point and a Luminosity Curve adjustment for the shadows and the lighthouse. I also added a mid-tone contrast mask before adding a little dodge and burn work.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob