I’m over at the very popular tourist area in San Francisco, Pier 39. It’s here that we should find some of the most popular tenants of the pier. The California Sea Lion.
In Northern California, there are three main species that most people just refer to as seals. The ones found at Pier 39, are Sea Lions, the seals found along the pacific shore are Harbor Seals and the mammoth sized seals found at Año Nuevo are usually Elephant seals.
This was where I wanted to place some music by the artist SEAL, but it would have cost me too much for the music rights. So you will just have to imagine “Kiss From a Rose” playing right now.
Let’s start with the easiest to find and easiest to photograph, the Sea Lion.
If you are in Northern California and are planning a trip to San Francisco, make a point swing by Pier 39, to photograph the sea lions, close up.
If you aren’t familiar with Pier 39, it’s a tourist spot where people come from all over the world to buy key chains of the golden gate bridge and sweatshirts that say Alcatraz Swim Team.
While parking can be expensive, its free to go in and walk around
In the north west corner of Pier 39 there are several docks call the K docks, that are now home to dozens of Sea Lions.
Back in 1989 very few sea lions were seen resting on the docks in that marina.
Shortly after the Loma Prieta earthquake in the the fall of 1989, the sea lions started converging on to the Fisherman’s Wharf – K docks. By early 1990 there were hundreds of them.
It was a big deal at the time. Since commercial fishermen had their presence there, they weren’t too keen on sea lions crowding up the docks. While environmentalist saw this as an opportunity to give a safe haven for some interesting creatures.
The Sea Lions ultimately won, and are a permanent fixture there at the docks.
Each winter, you find as many as 900 sea lions basking in the winter sunshine and of course, barking.
The Sea Lions that are barking are mostly males that are claiming territory. This mostly happens during mating season, but at haul-outs like at Pier 39, the barking goes on for most of the day.
You can find them at this San Francisco location most of the year, with higher concentrations of them in the winter months. However, during the summer months, June through August, the docks can be completely abandoned.
This is because its mating season they head out to the open ocean to mate and give birth.
The females’ mate during the summer and “at least most of these animals” all give birth about the same time in middle of June each year. Most of the time they are born on the Channel Islands in Southern California.
It’s not just Pier 39 where you can find these entertaining animals. Sea lions range from the tip of Baha to Vancouver British Colombia. Traveling all around the west coast you can find them cavorting in the water and in the relative safety of the harbors.
You can also find them with much more natural backgrounds than Pier 39. That is just and easy location to find them.
These animals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act that passed in 1972. So don’t interact with them, but do photograph them from a safe distance.
The Sea Lion’s biggest predators are Orca Killer Whales, great white sharks and of course, man.
Humans are responsible in many ways for sea lion dangers, including loss of habitat, hunting and pollution. The plastics found in the ocean are becoming one of the biggest problems for the California Sea Lion.
When the sea lions return to the docks in San Francisco, they might bring with them some pups that have survived ocean life, and these are the most popular to photograph.
Most of the resident sea lions at Pier 39, are males but here is how you can distinguish the gender.
Males can get pretty large, up to 850 pounds and over seven feet in length. While females only get to about 220 pounds.
At about five years old, males develop a bump on their heads called a crest. This doesn’t help with the young ones but it’s a start. And since these sea lions can live up to 25 years old it’s a good aspect to look for.
The sea lions in San Francisco are pretty easy to photograph but you need a few things in your favor first.
You have to go at the right time of year. The winter months are best, as they grow in numbers on the docks.
While most of the viewing is done from the Pier 39 viewing area, move to the left or right to get a lower angle perspective of the animals. Avoid the middle of the day, as the lighting is not very good, early morning is the best as the viewing area will show the sea lions fully lit by the rising sun.
Consider that you are in San Francisco, known for its fog, so you may very well have overcast on the day you visit, which does make the lighting easier work with.
Isolation: Use a long lens for isolating an individual sea lion. Capture him when he’s yawning or barking. On a cold winter morning, you might even get some fog showing their breath as they bark. This will be better when the sea lions are back lit by the setting sun later in the day.
Keep your shutter speed high when shooting these animals as any quick movements in your viewfinder might be blurred with anything lower than a 1/2000th of a second shutter speed.
One big confusion that occurs is the question, is this animal you are looking at Pier 39, are they seals? The answer is no, they are sea lions.
If you head out to the ocean beaches in Northern California, there you can find Harbor Seals. These are indeed seals.
The way to tell them apart is that seals have an ear hole, while sea lions have an ear flap.
Seals will spend most of their time in the water but will haul out on land to rest or certainly to mate. Seals can sleep underwater and have a thick layer of blubber under their skin to keep them warm.
The way I use to tell them apart is that seals are streamline blobs that sit on the land kind of like a football would. Their fins point backward and cannot be rotated. Sea lions on the other hand, will sit up with their head much higher than their bodies and can even walk around with their flippers as feet.
If you think of the image of a “trained seal” who would bounce a ball on their nose and swallow fish that are tossed to them, you’re likely seeing a sea lion not a seal.
The attraction of the harbor seals is that they are darn cute. Round, innocent little faces that don’t emit a bark, so much as a little grunt.
Low tide is best time to go out looking for Harbor seals and again go at a time of day in your area that has the best low angle of light to light up those faces.
Faces are what you are looking for with these animals. If you can get them interacting, so much the better, but a lot of times they will be by themselves. Focus on their faces and when they open their eyes, be ready to shoot a bunch of frames.
These harbor seals are not found easily in abundance, like the sea lions of Pier 39, so it will be more of a challenge to find them and photograph them.
Lastly in the pinniped family to consider making a photography trip to photograph are the Elephant Seals.
One of the most popular places in California to view the elephant seals is Año Nuevo Coast Preserve.
Año Nuevo is located about the middle of the state or lower Northern California, obviously on the coast.
It is here you will have the opportunity to see these massive beasts in their natural surroundings.
If you go from April though August you will hit molting season. This is where they shed the outer layer of skin and fur. Frankly this looks nasty but it is part of their life cycle and you may want to photograph it.
During this season, you don’t need reservations but you will need a free permit and there are no guided tours available at this time. You just go out on your own and you need to be back by 5:00 pm when they close.
The hike is about an hour from the permit station and its mostly through sand dunes so be prepared for that.
Next up for the park is the fall juvenile season. That begins September 1st, and lasts through November 30. This is the time of the year where the young elephant seals haul out and lounge around on the beaches. Though they are not in large quantities and the seals are only 1 to 3 years old. However, there could be some nice photo opportunities.
This time of year, is also only self-guided tours with a free permit.
The next big event and the most exciting time is from December 15th through March 31st.
This is elephant seal breeding season at Año Nuevo.
During this time frame, adult elephant seals come ashore to give birth and mate. You should see bull seals fighting combats to gain breeding access and it can be exciting to watch and photograph.
Gigantic lumbering beasts battle it out on the sand. Also, in late December to early February, pregnant females come in to give birth to cute little baby seal pups.
These are all great photographic opportunities.
This is quite a bit different than any of the other times of year, it is much more structured. You can ONLY go with a docent guide, ONLY on a scheduled tour.
You can’t go by yourself and hang out watching for as long as you like. You will get moved along as if you are in a museum.
There is also a cost for these tours, about $11 and of course, you need to make reservations.
The reservations go on sale on October 20th and then the tickets are sent out 56 days before the ticket date. It sounds all very particular and it is.
You can’t bring a cart with equipment; you have to walk only and carry all your gear. So, plan accordingly for this 3 to 4 mile hike over sand dunes and plan for about 2 to 3 hours of time on the tour.
The tours are conducted rain or shine. No refunds and the park is only closed on Christmas, New Years Day during this segment of the season. Also, you can’t bring an umbrella, so pack your rain gear is you want to stay dry. California doesn’t have much of a rainy season, but if its going to rain, this is the time frame for it.
To make a reservation, go online and search for Año Nuevo Elephant Seals guided walks.
The first thing you need to know if you are going to view and photograph the elephant seals during the winter season, is that you will get no closer than 25 feet. The truth is, it will likely be much farther. Therefore, bring that long lens.
Preferably a zoom lens if you have one. You won’t want to be changing lenses out on a windy beach, so consider bringing a second camera or just live with your lens choice.
You will also want to bring a tripod. This will be essential for support of that long lens or if you want to record some video, you’ll need it.
Bring some drinking water for hydration on your long walk, as there are no services to rely on once you are out there. Food is forbidden to take on your walk.
There could be in mud and sand as you walk so good waterproof hiking boots are a must. Consider that to get the best angles of these huge beasts, is to get low with your shot angle. You may very well be laying in mud or sand to get that low shot. Just dress prepared for muck.
Lets talk about Lighting.
This is all happening on the west coast of California. The rising sun will be at your backs, and illuminating the seals from the side. Most of the walks will have you heading out to the sea, where the light will be coming in from your right. At some point, you may get to stop at the shore, where light will be directly behind you.
In some of the places, there is a steep drop off, where you may be shooting downward to the elephant seals, or if you get the opportunity to get down to their level, the cliff behind you might block that morning light.
Because of this, there is no need to get there at sunrise. In fact, I think the tours don’t start to about 8:30 in the morning.
The way the tours are, there is not much to look at on the way back so get your shots in early.
Again, at the California coast that time of year, you are likely to have overcast, fog or rain clouds, so don’t expect sunshine, though I have seen it that time of year.
This kind of lighting will make the scenes bathed in a much softer light witch can be really nice.
Keep in mind that you will be shooting action, If all goes well. These 3000 pound animals thundering across the sand to defend a territory is fantastic. Keep your shutter speed high to make sure you capture all the action, sharp.
These are three options for you to make some great captures of sea lions, harbor seals and the big daddy of them all, the elephant seals. So get out there and make the experience happen.
If you are enjoying these podcasts, please, take a moment to tell another photographer about it. Maybe make a post on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter as that would be a great way to tell others about this podcast.
The Nature Photography Podcast can always be searched on any of the leading podcast players, Apple podcast, Spotify, Overcast and now Amazon music, plus many others. It is important to include THE in the title, THE nature Photography Podcast.
It would be great if you could leave a positive review on any of those platforms, it could really help keep this podcast high in the ratings.
Feel free to visit my web site, imagelight.com that’s I-M-A-G-E-L-I-G-H-T dot com for photographs and links to all the things we talked about in this podcast.
Until next time, this is your host, Terry VanderHeiden with THE Nature Photography Podcast.