Looking for good locations for cityscape photography to spice up your Instagram? In this video, I unveil 6 popular photo spots in Singapore's Central Business District area. Not only do I show you how to get to these beautiful locations, I'll also be sharing tips on how to photograph these sites to create awesome Insta-worthy photos.

In 2022 Singapore was named in a travel publication as the most Instagrammable country in the world.

Sunrise at Merlion Park. Nikon Z 8 with Laowa 10mm F2.8.

One of my most viewed videos on this channel shows you some of the best locations for photography, and today we’re in Singapore’s Central Business District area and I’m gonna unveil some more of the best instragrammable locations and how to photograph them.

Photo Spot #1 (map link): Momentum

Our very first photography spot is going to be this 18 metre tall sculpture titled “Momentum” by David Gerstein. It depicts an upward cycle of progress, symbolising the energy and momentum of the central business district, Singapore and its people. In the background, one can see some of the newest buildings (One Marina Boulevard, One Raffles Quay, The Sail @ Marina Bay and Marina Bay Financial Centre) adorning the skyline of Singapore.

With this spot, I’ll use a wide angle lens. Pick a silhouette with a clean background to be the “anchor-point” for the viewer’s eye to rest on, and intentionally overexposure a little to bring out the vibrant reds.

Make sure at least one of the silhouettes have a clean background, and straighten the white pillars so that the image looks level. When you’re shooting upwards, it’s a challenge to make sure that your shots are level and shooting with a wide-angle lens means any imperfections are even more visible.

Photo Spot #2 (map link): Singapore Soul

Our next Instagram spot this yet another art sculpture. This one’s called Singapore Soul and it’s just across the street from Momentum.

For this shot I’ll be shooting from inside the sculpture again, so that these characters in different languages fill up the entire frame. Once inside you’ll notice that all the characters are inverted. My trick here is to flip the image in Photoshop or Lightroom so that the characters are facing the correct way.

Image flipped in Lightroom so that the characters are not inverted since we’re shooting from inside (behind) the characters.

Photo Spot #3 (map link): Traffic Junction Opposite Ascott Building

Our third spot is at the traffic junction diagonally opposite the Ascott building. The beauty of the spot is the Ascott building’s symmetrical and old-school facade, which lights up at night. Today I’ll be doing a long exposure here of 1-2s, to catch pedestrians waiting for the traffic signal to turn against a backdrop of moving vehicles.

2s exposure with one of the pedestrians blended in. This gives the illusion that the humans were stationary while there’s a moving bus behind them

Photo Spot #4 (map link): Hong Leong Building view of Lau Pa Sat

The fourth location is inside the Hong Leong building. Head in towards the car park lifts and go to the multi-story car park at level 7. Placing your camera through the square grid at the wall of the carpark, you get a panoramic view of Lau Pa Sat.

For this shot, I was lucky enough to see this stranger with a red umbrella and waited for them to cross the middle of the frame at bottom.

Luckily for me, this person with a red umbrella walked pass the bottom of the image. It was a simple matter of waiting until they were in the perfect spot to hit the shutter.

Back down on the street towards the direction of One Shenton, you’ll find many good angles to photograph iconic Lau Pa Sat.

Alternate shot of Lau Pa Sat with light trails generated by traffic in front of it. The rain and water puddles add character to the image

Photo Spot #5 (map link): Overhead Bridge at OUE Downtown 2

For our fifth location we’re gonna keep heading down the street in the same direction until we come to this overhead bridge next to OUE Downtown 2 and Shenton House. Shenton House used to be a popular spot for photographers but we’re gonna skip that since photography is no longer allowed there.

So I’m on the overhead bridge and I have my camera set up on the tripod for a 20s exposure. The idea is that I want to get light trails leading towards a vanishing point in the middle of a photo, and the building logo in the shot for a cyber punk kind of effect. What’s the difference between shooting this side of the road versus the other side? On this side we’re getting the taillights of the vehicles on the road, which may look nice and red but it’s quite dim in the shot. In the other direction we get the headlights which are brighter and much nicer, but the composition of the photo on that side just isn’t as good.

A cyberpunk-esque edit of light trails at OUE Downtown 2. This was a blend of around 5 images, 20 seconds exposure each.

Photo Spot #6 (map link): International Plaza

The sixth location is International Plaza. We’re heading towards the residences on the 40-something floor. Please take note that these are residences, people actually live here so please DO NOT be a nuisance to the residents. No loud noises, don’t leave your trash around and be respectful. International Plaza is a great spot with look up or look down views, its repeating patterns make for some compelling photographic compositions. Once again, a wide angle lens works well here.

International Plaza at night. If you visit this place, please be respectful to the people who live here. Its interesting architecture gives opportunity for some playful photographic compositions with lines and repeated patterns.

So here are the 6 different locations of beautiful instagrammable spots in Singapore’s central business district area. Let me know what you think of these locations and if there’s any spots you want to see featured in a future video.

Photos and videos captured with:

Nikon Z 8
Laowa 10mm F2.8
DJI Pocket 3 Osmo
Wandrd Prvke 31L
Leofoto LX-225CT

Best Photo Locations in Singapore Central Business District