Photograph Downtown Portland From Pittock Mansion

Pittock Mansion offers a one of kind view of downtown Portland. This is a historic site that allows public access throughout the day and night. Parking is available at Pittock until 9pm but if you wish to visit the grounds after hours you can park at the bottom of the driveway, walk around the gate, and walk for about 1000ft to the top. If you do go at night make sure to bring a flashlight, as the walk up is dark.

Photo Settings:

Sunset:
F13, 5 sec shutter, White Balance - Cloudy

Nighttime Cityscape:
F13, 25 sec shutter, White Balance - Tungsten

Both shots were taken in full manual and on a tripod. Choosing an f stop of 13 will allow a large depth of field to keep all of the objects in the image in focus. From there, choose the appropriate shutter speed that allows for the shot to have the best exposure. Lastly, the choice of the White Balance is up to the shooter. For the sunset photo, the cloudy WB was chosen to bring out the colors. For the night shot the Tungsten WB was used to give the building lights a bluish look.

Tip: If you plan on using editing software make sure to use a RAW image format to allow for the most flexibility when editing.