On top of the building where I once worked for a computer company, there’s this exclusive restaurant.  It’s actually part of a chain or restaurants and has a good menu of continental dishes.  The building itself is only about 34 stories high, but from the restaurant the view is breathtaking.  The restaurant has a promenade deck of sorts complete with potted plants and you could see up to fifty miles away in all directions, give or take some angles where the taller buildings block the view.

It’s a great place to take pictures, specially if the weather is cooperating.  And, in fact, even if the weather was not cooperating, or specially if there’s bad weather moving in, the panoramic shots would have been incredibly dramatic.

To describe the view, there’s an airport about five miles to the southwest and a mountain range south of that, the bay is about five miles west, a lake five miles to east and beyond that there’s another mountain range going north to south.  Any dark clouds with rain moving from one end of the horizon to the next could be easily tracked.  And the view of the financial district is clear all around.

There wouldn’t be any real problems with the shots.  Panoramic shots would be simple enough to do, with a good wide angle to work with.  You only need a tripod with the camera.  The sunset is spectacular, but you would need some luck to catch it in its best light.  This is due to the smog and haze.  Better to take sunset shots after some heavy rain in the afternoon.

Neutral filters on top of a polarizer would do well in this environment.  The neutral filters would give the shot more contrast.  And the polarizer would help with the haze, making the sky darker.  A bright sunny morning would work.  Or late afternoon after some heavy downpour.  It could also be a good platform for taking pictures of the night skyline.  What with the first class hotels nearby and the tourist district on one end while the commercial district is on the other end.  And yes, lots of the buildings have full lights on deep into the night.

Really, the possibilities are endless.