Is it a travel book? Not really. It lists locations in a given area but it won't help you plan your day in a city.

Now with that said ... this book is truly a photo location list. Most travelers are not pro photographers, but they love to get a tip or two on how to take good photos. Having this book alongside a travel guide goes a long way to help finding and composing interesting pictures. Travelers want to find places where they can take memorable photographs, but travel books don't help with that much. So this book definitely fills a specifc need.

I find this book enjoyable in this aspect, ... It is extremely well illustrated with pictures, examples, maps and beginner photo tips. Don't buy it for travel tips, don't buy it for photography lessons, but buy it to find out how you can make the most of finding the truly memorable locations, and buy it for seeing a photo composition process by working backwards from the final product.

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:


Terrific guide to photographing San Francisco  Mar 07, 2003 By Joseph Boone
This is a great book but you must understand that it is neither an instruction manual on photography nor a real tour guidebook for San Francisco. It is written to help give you a chance to get great shots of northern California landmarks. It not only points out the best locations from which to take pictures but also provides other info such as which time of day proviides the best lighting.

On a recent trip to SF I got some amazing shots of the Golden Gate Bridge from places I would never have known even existed without this book. It shows you perspectives from several different locations for each landmark so you can choose your favorite. This allows you to head straight for the spot you've picked out and know what time of day you need to be there to get them. This kind of plan of attack will greatly increase your chances of getting great pictures.

12 of 13 found the following review helpful:


Serves the purpose - great investment!  Feb 13, 2002 By Bharat Suneja
I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO. And I love photographing San Francisco. It is a beautiful city. However, if you don't actually live there and know the city like the back of your hand, you probably miss out on a lot of popular places where you can get great shots. This book tells you where to go, at what time of the day or night (to get the best shots), whether dawn/morning/noon/late afternoon or sunset time is best from a particular location, where to stand, what kinda lenses/exposures to use, et al.

Great book for budding photographers and tourists. Worth every cent! BTW, the pictures are not all award-winning shots, but something you can go and take with your camera after reading the book.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:


A Good Guide and Useful  Apr 20, 2008 By Abbie Brown "hello world"
I took the trip of a lifetime to San Francisco and Yosemite National Park earlier this month, and this was one of two photo guidebooks that I bought to plan the trip and carried with me. The other was The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite by Michael Frye, which was an invaluable tool for that part of my trip. Although this book does cover Yosemite, it is no substitute for the Frye book. If you're visiting Yosemite, be sure to pick up the Frye book.
This book is not nearly as good. It covers such a big swath of northern California that it does not do each site justice. For instance, I often got a little lost looking for the suggested overlooks and spots. I also felt that the book tried to provide history as well as photo information, and consequently did neither very well. It would have been better to be direct with the photo information rather than get into a history of each of the major stops listed in the book (often several are listed on a page, and in paragraph form). That said, the Yosemite book is pretty much the high water mark for this kind of book and it is hard to top it.
This book was very helpful to me in planning my trip. For instance, I made a special effort to get to places like Baker Beach at sunset or Vista Point at sunrise, and was rewarded with beautiful light on the Golden Gate. For a person with a photography hobby, it was great to have this book on hand.
Pick up this book but don't forget the Frye book if Yosemite is part of your destination.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:


An excellent guide for places to photograph in the bay area  Mar 17, 1999
I am a 24 year resident of San Francisco but a beginning photographer. I wanted to find places to photograph and this book did an excellent job. Plenty of color photographs to help inspire you. It gives in good details how to get to the specific area to take the best photographs and the same one as shown in the book. This book guided me to places I have never been and even made brief suggestions as to things to do in the area. An excellent guide for the tourist and the residents of the bay area.

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