What Is Mt. Washington In Pittsburgh And Where Is It?
One of the best and most well known views of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is from up on Mt. Washington. There are views all along the aptly named Grand View Avenue above the city where Mt. Washington is located. Both the Monongahela and Duquesne Inclines climb Mt. Washington and take people up and down from West Carson Ave to Grand View Ave. An incline is an old inclined railroad type thing with small cars that carry about 20 people along a track about 800 feet at an angle of 30 degrees for a total rise of about 400 feet.
While there are dramatic views of the city of Pittsburgh all along Grand View Ave, the single best viewpoint is arguably from the top platform of the Duquesne Incline. The platform is located at 1215 grand View Ave in Pittsburgh. There is both metered and free parking near the top incline platform. You can use this link to find more information an hours of operation for the Duquesne Incline.
The views from the top of the Duquesne Incline are awesome any time of day and any time of year. Sunrise and sunset can be especially magical as you can see from the photo highlighted in this article.
What Is It Like To Travel To And Photograph The City Of Pittsburgh From The Duquesne Incline Upper Platform?
Like most cities, driving around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania can be a bit nerve racking. Traffic can be crazy and roads can seem a little disorganized in Pittsburgh. If you are heading up to Mt. Washington for sunrise, sunrise is usually early enough to get up to Mt. Washington before rush hour traffic really starts to clog up the roads.
Parking is usually pretty easy to find around sunrise and you can usually find a free spot to park with no time restrictions. If you want to explore more of the city you can park up on Mt. Washington and take the Monongahela Incline down to Station Square and walk over to downtown from there.
To make sure you get to Mt. Washington with no problems just plug the upper platform address of the Duquesne Incline into your GPS and it will get you there. You can also park at the bottom but if you are heading over for photography, especially for sunrise your best bet is to park at the top.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of The Pittsburgh Skyline From Mt. Washington?
The Pittsburgh skyline is consistently rated among the top-10 in the world and sometimes even in the top two. Any photo you get of the Pittsburgh skyline from the top of the Duquesne Incline will be an amazing photo. The spectacular lighting conditions often present at sunrise and to a lesser degree, sunset make for truly spectacular photos.
When you get to the Duquesne Incline platform there is not usually much of a crowd on the weekdays but weekends can be fairly crowded. You’ll be standing on a metal platform with a metal fence type thing in front of you. Most people will be able to stand and look over the fence. There is room to use a tripod and tripods are permitted. I’d suggest bringing one if you will be there in low light conditions in the morning or evening.
To ensure you get a spot to shoot it is good to get there about 30 minutes before sunrise. Some of the best light can occur from 30 minutes before sunrise until anywhere up to 60 or 90 minutes after sunrise depending on the could cover.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing The Pittsburgh City Skyline From Mt. Washington?
When photographing the Pittsburgh city skyline from Mt. Washington most any camera will do. If you will just be sharing digital photos with your friends or posting to social media any camera will do. If you plan to make prints or large prints then you’ll probably want to get something better though some of the newer cel phones will be able to spit out files good enough for pretty large prints.
If you’re going to get a stand alone camera something like a Canon Rebel DSLR will do fine for pretty good photos. A high end DSLR or a newer digital mirrorless camera setup will probably give you better and larger files to more easily make large high quality prints. For most photos, you’ll want a lens range or anywhere from a 16mm up to around 100mm depending on the type of shot you want. R really wide angle lens will enable you to capture the incline, the city and just about everything on either side of the city. With a lens of up to 100mm or longer you’ll be able to zoom in on most any section of the city you find visually interesting from Mt. Washington.
If you want really wide panoramic photos, a panoramic setup can be a good thing to have up on Mt. Washington. There are some angles from the Duquesne Incline viewpoint that can lend themselves to panoramic images but it is the other overlooks along Grand View Avenue that are better suited for really wide panoramic photos overlooking the skyline and the three rivers in Pittsburgh.
What Is The Story Behind This Photo Print Of Sunrise Over The City Of Pittsburgh?
During a late summer trip to the Pittsburgh area, I decided to head back down to Mount Washington for a few sunrise photo opportunities. Mount Washington atop the incline is usually my go to spot. It provides a spectacular view, it is pretty straight forward to get there and the parking is free. If the weather is bad, you can go inside the station at the top of the Duquesne Incline to warm up, get out of the rain an check out some history and some historical photos of the Duquesne and other inclines around the world.
On this particular morning, I got there just before sunrise. There were a few scattered clouds in the skies but not enough to make for much in the way of photo opportunities after sunrise. Most of the time you can get some decent photos without much cloud cover but as the sun came up I was shooting directly into the sun. Sometimes shooting directly into the sun can work OK but there generally needs to be something to diffuse it.
It wasn’t until the sun crept up over the horizon that I realized I was going to be shooting directly at it. At that point I almost packed up the gear and hiked to a different viewpoint. As the sun crept up in the sky, it began to curve over to the right a little bit and rose right behind one of the Pittsburgh skyscrapers. By doing that, the sunlight became diffused , the sky and the few clouds in the sky lit up and light beams shot out from behind the buildings.
For the entire sunrise I had the place to myself. It wasn’t until about an hour after sunrise that anyone showed up. Since there was very little cloud cover the photo opportunities from this vantage point vanished pretty quickly once the sun rose above the buildings of the skyline. For about an hour and a half I walked along Grand View Ave and took some photos from other viewpoints. Once the sun was fairly high in the sky and I wasn’t shooting directly into it I returned to Mt. Washington for a few more shots. By 11am, there wasn’t much else worth hanging out for so I hopped in the car and headed back home for the day.
What Formats Is This Snowbird Tram Wall Art Print Available?
This Pittsburgh skyline summer sunrise print is available on a verity of materials including paper, canvas, metal, acrylic and wood. It come sin sizes up to 72×48 inches. If your print will hang in an area with diffused lighting, any type of material and any type of finish will look look great! A metal, metallic or glossy finish will look quite vibrant while a matte finish may look a bit more subdued and refined.
If you are looking to give the bathroom a Pittsburgh theme, you could opt for bath towels and a matching shower curtain. This makes a perfect look for any fan of the City of Champions!
If you’d like to give your bedroom a Pittsburgh theme, you could opt for a Sherpa fleece blanket. The image prints very well on a Sherpa fleece and the blankets are super comfortable to curl up under when the weather gets a little chilly or its just you. Add in some throw pillows and you can give the entire living room a nice Pittsburgh look!
Now that those disposable plastic shopping bags are being phased out everywhere you’ll need something to use for shopping. A heavy duty canvas tote bag makes a great shopping bag. The larger “weekender” bag can hold enough stuff to take for a day on the beach, a weekend trip or a full load of groceries. The bags look great and last forever!
Finally, if you are or know anyone who loves jigsaw puzzles, this print is available on jigsaw puzzles in both 500 and 1,000 pieces. The image comes printed on the cardboard box that contains the puzzle for reference.
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