Two of New York City’s most iconic symbols – the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building – lie 5.1 miles apart – one in Midtown Manhattan and the other in the Upper New York Bay.
So, is the image below real or Photoshopped?
It’s absolutely real.
From the right angle – and with the right focal length – these two icons can made to appear as if they’re in close proximity.
Where would you go to take a photo like this?
Looking at a map, a straight line from the Empire State Building through the Statue of Liberty goes almost exactly to the Tear Drop Memorial, located at Harbor View Memorial Park at the end of the former Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne, New Jersey.
The Tear Drop Memorial – also known as “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism” – is a 10 story sculpture with a 4 ton Nickel tear drop created by artist Zurab Tsereteli.
It was a gift from the Russian people and government in memory of the victims of the 1993 and 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Vladimir Putin spoke at the ceremonial groundbreaking on September 16, 2005, however following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the City of Bayonne covered his name from the memorial.
From this site, the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center site are both visible. And from here, with a telephoto lens typically used to photograph wildlife, distances can be compressed, and the Statue of Liberty can appear to be standing next to the Empire State Building.
The fact that the Empire State Building – in the middle of Manhattan – is so visible from this vantage point is a bit of luck in its location and the way that Manhattan has developed. You can read about the reasons for the development pattern in Manhattan – and the gap in tall buildings – here. Contrary to popular myth, it’s not due to the bedrock!
If the Empire State Building were located a bit further east, the skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan would start to block its view.
However, other than the tip of downtown Manhattan, there are not many tall buildings south of the Empire State Building that would block its view from this perspective (that may change one day as the city continues to grow).
How exactly do you get the shot?
From the Tear Drop Memorial, you can get both the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building in close proximity to each other, however they are more than 2 and 7 miles away, respectively.
To make them appear closer to each other, a technique photographers employ is “lens compression” – which creates the appearance of objects in the foreground and background being together.
To achieve this, you need a long focal length – and the kind of camera lens typically used for wildlife photography to magnify objects at a distance.
To take these photos, I used a telephoto lens in the range of 500mm to 600mm. Below are a series of photos taken at different times of day, with different lighting.
12:56pm – Daylight
3:38pm – Daylight
4:15pm – Golden Hour
4:28pm – Golden Hour
(On this day, sunset was at 4:32pm)
4:48pm – Golden Hour
4:55pm – Blue Hour
