The 10 best places to photograph New York City

New York is the most photographed city on earth, and it shows. Stand anywhere famous and you'll be standing where a hundred thousand people stood before you. The trick isn't finding new places. It's turning up at the old ones at the hour, and in the week, that most of those hundred thousand missed.

For each of the ten spots below we looked at the most interesting public Flickr photos taken within about 200 meters of it, counted every photographer once per day, and added the visits up by month. We also read the camera data of the best photos at each spot, and worked out where the sun rises and sets from each viewpoint. Some of what came out is obvious (Rockefeller Center in December). Some isn't (why is a footbridge over 42nd Street busiest in September?).

June and September are the months to come, if you can choose. Between them they're the busiest months at five of these ten spots, and it's not hard to see why: long evenings, the trees in leaf, and none of August's haze.

Brooklyn Bridge Park runs along the East River where the old cargo piers used to be, and the stumps of some of them are still there: rows of timber pilings sticking out of the water with Lower Manhattan behind them. It's the best foreground in the city, and it faces west, straight into the sunset.

Here's when to be there. From the pilings, the Statue of Liberty is at a bearing of about 251°, and the sun sets on that line around November 2 and again around February 9. For a couple of evenings either side, it goes down right behind her, four kilometers away. In June it sets far to the right, just left of One World Trade Center, and the towers of the Financial District turn to silhouettes against it.

This is a telephoto spot more than you'd think. 41% of the photos we sampled used a lens longer than 70mm, mostly to stack the pilings against the towers. Three of the sixteen were long exposures; a few seconds smooths the river into glass around the posts.

Best light

Sunset; behind the Statue of Liberty around November 2 and February 9

Busiest months

June and September (quietest: January)

Typical shot

29mm, f/6.3, 1/250s, ISO 100

Getting there

Clark St station (2/3), or the East River ferry to DUMBO

The bridge opened in 1883 and its walkway is still the best way into Manhattan on foot. It runs above the traffic, between the cables, and through the pointed arches of the two granite towers. Since 2021 cyclists have had their own lane down on the roadway, so the walkway belongs to people again, which is good news for photographers.

It also belongs to everyone else after about nine in the morning. Go at sunrise. The bridge runs southeast to northwest, so if you walk from Brooklyn toward Manhattan as the sun comes up, it's behind you, lighting the towers and the cables and the city ahead. A quarter of the photos we sampled were taken with an ultra-wide lens, to get the converging cables in from the walkway.

For the bridge from below, walk down to the Brooklyn end around Old Fulton Street and the riverside at the foot of the bridge. At night the towers are floodlit and the Manhattan skyline glitters behind them.

Best light

Sunrise, walking toward Manhattan

Busiest months

June and October (quietest: January)

Typical shot

32mm, f/7.1, 1/210s, ISO 200

Getting there

High St (A/C) on the Brooklyn side, or City Hall (4/5/6) in Manhattan

There are higher observation decks in New York now, but Top of the Rock has the one thing they don't: a view of the Empire State Building. From the decks on the 67th to 70th floors of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, it sits right in the middle of the view south, with Lower Manhattan behind it. Turn around and Central Park stretches away to the north.

Sunset time slots sell out first, and for good reason. The sun goes down to the west, side-lighting Midtown, and stay for the twenty minutes after it, when the windows light up and the sky is still blue. Tripods aren't allowed, so do what the people in our sample did: the median was 1/60s at ISO 500, with the camera braced on the top of the glass.

December is the busiest month here by a distance, with 18% of all the visits we counted. That's the Christmas tree in the plaza below, and the skating rink. If you're coming for the tree, photograph it from the street on a weekday evening and do the deck another time.

Best light

Sunset into blue hour; book the sunset slot

Busiest months

October and December (quietest: January)

Typical shot

27mm, f/4.5, 1/60s, ISO 500

Getting there

47–50 Sts–Rockefeller Center (B/D/F/M)

Grand Central opened in 1913, and the main concourse is still one of the most photographed rooms in America. The ceiling is painted with the constellations of the zodiac, and they're painted backwards, as if seen from outside the sky looking in. Nobody's sure if it was a mistake.

The balconies at either end are where to stand. From the west balcony you look down the length of the concourse, across the information booth with its four-faced clock, to the big arched windows. Commuters at rush hour make great motion blur, but tripods aren't allowed, so look for a balustrade to rest on. In our sample, people worked at ISO 800 and f/3.8, at a median of 1/60s.

Oddly, July was the quietest month here, against September and October as the busiest. Whatever the month, late morning on a weekday is the easiest time: the rush is over, there are still enough people crossing the floor to bring it to life, and few enough that you can see the marble between them.

Best light

Late morning on a weekday, after the rush

Busiest months

September and October (quietest: July)

Typical shot

40mm, f/3.8, 1/60s, ISO 800

Getting there

Grand Central–42 St (4/5/6/7/S)

Daniel Burnham's triangular tower opened in 1902, on a plot so narrow that it's barely two meters wide at its tip. The classic view is from the pedestrian plaza where Broadway crosses Fifth Avenue, looking south, so the prow points straight at you.

That view faces south, which puts the sun behind the building at midday. Come in the morning, when the east face is lit, or late afternoon for the west. A wide lens is the norm here (56% of the photos we sampled) because you're close and it's tall. While you're there, cross to the west side of Fifth Avenue for the cast-iron sidewalk clock outside 200 Fifth, from 1909, and walk up through Madison Square Park for the Flatiron framed in the trees.

Best light

Morning or late afternoon, never midday

Busiest months

April and June (quietest: January)

Typical shot

28mm, f/4, 1/320s, ISO 125

Getting there

23 St (R/W or F/M)

Everyone knows to come at night. The better time is the blue hour, while the sky still has some color, because at full dark the screens burn out and the sky turns to black. For height, climb the red glass steps above the TKTS booth in Duffy Square and look south down the length of the square.

The numbers tell you how bright it is: the median aperture in our sample was f/2.8 at ISO 800, but that's people shooting fast to freeze the crowds. If you want the classic streaks of taxis and buses, stand on one of the traffic islands, rest the camera on something and use half a second. October was the busiest month in our sample.

Best light

The blue hour, before the sky goes black

Busiest months

June and October (quietest: November)

Typical shot

45mm, f/2.8, 1/160s, ISO 800

Getting there

Times Sq–42 St (N/Q/R/W/S/1/2/3/7)

Manhattan's street grid is tilted about 29° from true east-west, so the setting sun lines up with the cross streets on two evenings around the summer solstice: in late May and again in mid-July. Neil deGrasse Tyson named it Manhattanhenge, and the American Museum of Natural History publishes the exact dates and times each spring. The bridge that carries Tudor City Place over 42nd Street is the best-known place to watch, because 42nd runs all the way across the island with the Chrysler Building on the right.

Be there an hour early and expect company. The overpass can be closed when it gets too full, so have a plan B: 14th, 23rd, 34th and 57th Streets all line up too. A telephoto compresses the canyon of buildings and makes the sun look huge. Only about one visit in six that we counted here was in May or July, though. The busiest month by far was September, when world leaders come to the United Nations, two blocks east, and the street is full of motorcades.

Best light

Sunset on the Manhattanhenge evenings in late May and mid-July

Busiest months

September and December (quietest: January)

Typical shot

35mm, f/4.5, 1/160s, ISO 200

Getting there

Grand Central–42 St, then a 10-minute walk east

The High Line is an old elevated freight railroad turned into a park, opened in 2009. The plants are by the Dutch designer Piet Oudolf: grasses and perennials chosen to look good dying as well as growing, so it's photogenic in October as much as in June. April and October were its busiest months in our sample. December was the quietest.

It's a long, thin park, a couple of stories above the street, which makes it ideal for looking into the city from above. Where it crosses Tenth Avenue at 17th Street, there's a sunken amphitheater with a window looking straight up the avenue, good for traffic at dusk. It's one of the most telephoto-heavy spots in this guide, with more than a third of the photos we sampled shot at 70mm or longer, picking details out of the buildings and people across the street.

Best light

Late afternoon, when the low sun comes across the Hudson

Busiest months

April and October (quietest: December)

Typical shot

52mm, f/8, 1/160s, ISO 200

Getting there

14 St (A/C/E) or 34 St–Hudson Yards (7)

Central Park drew more photographers than anywhere else in this guide: almost 400 separate visits in our sample. It's a big place, so pick a corner. The Pond, at the southeast corner, has Gapstow Bridge with the hotels of Central Park South behind it. Bow Bridge, over the Lake in the middle of the park, is the classic, best early in the morning before the rowboats come out.

The data gives you two seasons. April, for the cherry blossom and the first green, and November, for the foliage, which peaks late in Central Park, usually in the first half of November, well after the leaves have gone up the Hudson Valley. August is the quietest month, so if you want the park to yourself, a humid summer morning is it.

Best light

Early morning, before the crowds and the rowboats

Busiest months

April and November (quietest: August)

Typical shot

35mm, f/5.5, 1/100s, ISO 100

Getting there

5 Av/59 St (N/R/W) for the Pond

The best view of Midtown isn't in New York. Cross the Hudson to Hoboken, walk to Pier A Park, and the whole of Midtown is lined up in front of you, from the Hudson Yards towers in the north to the Empire State Building in the middle. In the evening the sun sets behind you and lights up the city. In the morning it rises behind the skyline.

And twice a year, it rises behind the Empire State Building. From Pier A the building is at a bearing of about 68°, and the sun comes up on that line around May 5 and again around August 9. Check the weather the night before, take the first PATH train out, and you'll be one of very few people there. The photos we sampled used a standard zoom, at a median of 43mm, which is about right for the building and its neighbors.

Best light

Sunrise; behind the Empire State Building around May 5 and August 9

Busiest months

June and October (quietest: December)

Typical shot

43mm, f/4.5, 1/60s, ISO 250

Getting there

PATH to Hoboken, then 5 minutes along the waterfront

Putting it together

In one long day: sunrise on Brooklyn Bridge, walking into Manhattan; the Flatiron and Grand Central in the morning; the High Line after lunch; and the pilings at Brooklyn Bridge Park for sunset, or Top of the Rock if you've booked. Times Square is on your way home. The subway joins it all up, and none of it needs more than a standard zoom and a fast prime for the indoor shots.

How we worked it out

For each spot we took up to 500 of the most interesting public Flickr photos taken nearby, counted one visit per photographer per day, and added them up by month. The typical settings are medians from the camera data of twenty of those photos, each by a different photographer. Sun bearings were calculated for each viewpoint and are good to a day or two; buildings on the horizon can shift the moment the sun actually appears. Every spot has its own page on ShotHotspot with its photos, a map and the sun and moon tool, so you can check the light for your own dates.