I went on a tour with Sam of Citifari and as a 2 y.o. New Yorker, I was curious about using my camera to get nice shots of NY landmarks. At first, I was unimpressed by the list of landmarks to shoot, but from the first one to the last one, I rediscovered them though cinema-like views them and photograph them with custom settings and amazing results. During the tour, I took a lot of shots between the landmarks of real life New York: angry cab, Krishna festival, and other candid shots. I recommend Citifari as a very original tour of the city, for tourists or New Yorkers, interested in very high quality pictures. read more

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So you have a new DSLR Camera? Now what? Did you ever use your camera on a manual mode? While I have never been on a photowalk myself, I think Citifari is comparable to one. You come armed with your camera and take pictures of sights. But not just any other picture of yet another NYC landmark. Our small tour group of 5 had a wonderful time taking photos of NYC scenes and landmarks in a different way. If you are new to the wonderful world of digital photography, this tour is for you. It really is like a classroom on foot. Truth is, even if you are a pro, this tour is good just to hang out and take photos. Before the tour started, handouts were given with regards to location. Sam Levy explained aperture, speed, ISO and other things that any novice can understand. The "lectures" are in no way boring, condescending or elitist. At each stop, he whips out his ipad, and shows you the photo assignment of each spot. You will be forced to bend, look up and consider everything about the photo you have to take. YES, THIS TOUR ALSO TEACHES PHOTO COMPOSITION. He checks everyone's photos at every stop and explains how you can improve it. Of course it is a short 2.5 hour jaunt, but I can honestly say, it really is money well spent. You will never look at taking tourist photos the same way again. So you dont have a DSLR but thinking about getting one? Rent one from Sam! One of the people from our group was using a loaner camera from Sam. The other one had a point and shoot and another one was shooting with a micro 4/3 system. Renting one for one of these tours is a good way to gauge if you really want to invest in it. It allows you to live owning one, if only for an afternoon. I highly recommend this tour! read more

I bought an SLR camera about 5 years ago. It was expensive, and I've used it about 10 times, never confidently. I read guides on how to use the camera, knew about F-stop and shutter speed, but it never really... clicked. Sam took me on the photo safari, into the wilderness of manual mode. Walking through the city in different conditions, we explored how to use my camera and I eventually got comfortable in the world of SLR. I have some confident control over my camera now. That's good. It's definitely useful and worth it. You're worth it. read more

Sam, the founder of Citifari was very helpful and informative. I was one of four during my city tour. I like the small group and invidualized attention. He took us to some incredible vantage points that I would have never discovered on my own. I have a basic understanding of manual mode, just need more practice. but Sam helped with my exposure and composition settings in order to get the perfect shot. He also let me use his lens during the trip, which photographer lets you do that? I had a great time and learned some new things about my camera/photography that I did not know. He is professional and willing to teach unlike many other photographers. The idea of a photography tour and sightseeing is completely new to me. Many tourists come to New York and stand right in front of the Empire State Building or Chrysler building expecting to get a good shot, but of course the best shots are not that hard to find, it just requires some walking. We walked to 4-5 different locations and viewed buildings from a perspective I have never seen before. Funny thing is when you start taking pictures in weird locations, people wonder what you are taking a photo of and whip out their cameras too! I highly recommend Citifari to everyone! read more

My wife and I book this tour and one from a competitor, which was more expensive. I think we liked this one more. Our guide was running a little late, but called us to make sure we knew what was going on - not a problem as the meeting location was B & H Photo and we love that store. We met up without issue and the tour began. It turned out that we were the only two students so we had a great time. My wife and I are avid amateur photographers and our guide started by going over the basics. At some point, I politely tried to tell him that the basics were way too basic for us. He seemed to be locked into a scripted format, but eventually we broke him out of the mold and things got better... Our guide had a book with example pictures, camera settings and other tips that made photographing from each location really cool. All we had to do it try and mirror the example photograph and we got some good practice, solid composition ideas and interesting photos. Our guide definitely knows photography and continually asked to see our photos to make suggestions and offer tips, which was greatly appreciated. We made most of the stops that were planned as we kind of meandered through a mix of the planned agenda and some of our own given that there were no other students in our class. I can definitely say that both my wife's photography and mine improved as a result of taking this class and it was a great value. I would encourage you to give it a whorl as their guide book is a really cool idea and will definitely help work through the planned shots on the tour. We did the NY City landmarks tour in early January 2013. read more

I booked the Citifari Central Park tour for Sunday. When I arrived, my tour guide, Francois, found me quickly and we chatted briefly about New York and photography. We waited on two more people: another person for the tour and another guy (Michael) that was actually looking to become a tour guide himself. They both arrived shortly and we began our tour. We spent just over 2 1/2 hours walking through the park. Francois did an excellent job explaining some general photography concepts as well as why some shots worked and why some didn't (hint: it has everything to do with light). Francois was very encouraging and insisted that nothing you do in photography is really 'wrong', provided it captures your vision and you like it. We did learn some techniques that I considered to be little advanced (which was great)! We did things like capture bikers in motion, capture silhouettes in tunnels, etc..., none of which I had really grasped beforehand (and I know a little bit about photography basics - I earned a certificate in digital photography at Emory's Continuing Education Center last year), but there's always so much more to learn. Having hands-on time with a professional is always a great way to polish technique and get ideas. Most importantly, it's great to get the feedback on your pictures as you're taking them. This was more that just someone pointing out a location and saying 'take a picture of that'. It was more about why that location works and how to look at one subject from different viewpoints to truly get a meaningful shot. All-in-all, a great tour. AND, as a bonus, when Francois was helping out the other person, I was chatting with Michael, who knew a lot about New York's architecture. It was fascinating to have him share his knowledge, as well. This is the kind of tour everyone should do! read more

This is a great way to have fun while you learn about photography. I was very curious about this photo - walking tour, and I decided to go two weeks ago, it was pretty good, Sam has knowledge and he is a good teacher (explain anything that you want to know) . I think this is a good way to get good pictures if you are a tourist or if you just got a new DSLR camera . read more

Hey All.. Thought I would put up a review on the this tour. Had a lot of fun and also learnt so much on this tour. Sam took us around to a series of his secret locations around Manhattan and unlocked my camera for me. I really got to understand about lighting, apature, shutter speeds and best of all composition. I think there is something for everyone on this tour, from the point and click photographer to the DSLR photographer wanting to get the best out of their manual setting there is plenty of learning to be had. Have a go on this one Josh - from Australia! read more

My wife and I went on this tour when we were visiting from out of town. Very cool places they took us to and the walking really wasn't that bad. Just make sure you have 3 hrs to go on the tour especially if there are a lot of people. We only had 4 people in our group so it was a nice walkabout. They had samples of the pictures they were trying to get us to take so we didn't have to guess what the composition was suppose to be when we were experimenting. I think it's a great tour for people that aren't familiar with the area and those that just want to to take pictures of some iconic NYC landmarks. A DSLR is not needed to go on this tour so you can do it with a point and shoot. You do need to know how to change your settings like aperture, shutter speed and ISO. You can't expect the guide to know how to do everything on every single camera out there. :) read more

I could definitely have used a tour like this when I first got my DSLR (a hand-me-down from my tech-crazy dad that I left in a cupboard for a long time because I didn't have time to learn how to use it), because then maybe I would have started using it earlier. Sam takes the time to teach you how to think about using your camera to achieve the best results in a well-chosen variety of locations (I took the Central Park tour). It's definitely for newbies as well as more hardened hobbyists. He also took the time to help the people who just brought point-and-shoots find how to adjust what they could adjust! read more

If you always wanted to learn more about photography but never had the opportunity to really dedicate time to it this is right for you! Just in a few hours you will become familiar with the basic options your camera has to offer to get the best composition, or creating a special effect just using different apertures and shutter speeds. You will practice the technics right way and taking pictures to the most photographed icons of NYC in an unusual way will be tons of fun. I enjoyed all the tour but really loved shooting in Grand Central. Just bring your camera and you will be a better photographer in a very short time! read more

Francois, our tour guide, was very experienced and had a great imagination and eye for photography. The tour was very intimate, very helpful, and very educational and he was extremely patient and was able to open up my eyes and imagination to how to perceive certain images, landscapes and portraits. Definitely well worth the money and best tour (out of a couple other phot tours I've had) read more

I just returned from my first trip to New York. I stumbled across a Citifari review and decided to give it a try. I did the Manhattan at Night tour. Louis was the guide and was very helpful. There were only three of us on the tour which was nice. I am technically proficient with the camera but was looking for some direction on the art side of the process. Louis gave great tips and I was quite happy with the photos I ended up with. A couple of the techniques I had read about before but could never get them to work. Now I know how to do these things and I am looking forward to trying them further. read more

The "Night Photography Tour" was outstanding. Sam and Louis were fantastic guides on both the city and how to take photographs at night. I never would have gotten the great photographs I did if it wasn't for going on this tour. I would highly recommend this tour as a safe way to take fantastic shots of Manhattan. Sam also supplied tripods to those people who did not have one. This is the second Citifari tour I have been on and my photos from both are the envy of all my friends. No matter what level photographer you are these tours will give you knowledge about how a camera works, how to use the settings on your camera and feel safe with a great group of people. If you are in the city as a tourist on vacation this is the only photography tour company you need to look to. For locals, Citifari will let you see the city in a whole new light. read more

We had an awesome time on both the Landmark and Central Park tours. Sam is very friendly and knowledgeable and its great to be taken to interesting and unique spots that have already been scouted to ensure great photo opps. I knew nothing about photography with a DSLR camera when I went on the tour, but Sam was helpful and I'm very happy with my pictures. read more

Francois was our professional photographer tour guide extraordinaire through Central Park just after an unseasonal late March storm which covered the foliage with a dusting of pristine snow, blessing the small group with an imminently photographical environment within which the aforementioned Francois worked his magic. As advertised, Francois had a series of sites that were ideal for capturing the contrast between the natural beauty of the park with the structural beauty of man's greatest creation, Manhattan! I have been an avid amateur photographer for decades and consider myself to be pretty decent. That said, Francois showed me a few different ways to look for and create shots that I would never have found on my own. My wife, also an amateur, but with a brand new, complex camera, was delighted with Francois, as he was able to discern the technical skills and curiosity of the group members, and tailor his approach toward each of accordingly. We are flying home with some amazing shots that we will cherish (and show off) forever. Thank you very much, Francois! read more

A booked this experience for my daughter's 16th birthday. Her camera is relatively new and she was able to learn so much about the settings, taking pictures at night versus daytime and she got some amazing shots. Our guide was professional, knowledgeable and patient. The entire experience was the perfect way for my aspiring photographer to celebrate and I would definitely recommend this event. read more

Franchement, à faire absolument. Tout est fait pour que tout le monde soit à l'aise, Louis - avec lequel j'ai participé à deux tours, Central Park et Night Tour - est absolument adorable. Il a été patient, très pédagogue et m'a donné plein de conseils pour que je progresse. Il s'adapte à chacun, on est presque dans du cours particulier, avec les bons côtés de la convivialité de groupe ! Je suis encore très étonnée des progrès que j'ai faits en si peu de temps. Et je pense sérieusement rempiler pour un 3eme... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trust me, it's worth it ! I just took two tours with Louis (the Central Park one and the night tour) and I loved the time spent with the group. First of all, Sam is really nice, he always gave me rapid answers to all my mails before I ordered my tours. Eveything was really well organized and I felt reassured. Then, I took the two tours with Louis. A great guide really, very nice. He gave me good advices, helped me understand all the technical terms and principles. I am still amazed by oiw great my pic are and how much I learnt in such a short time ! I think I'm going to order another tour before I leave NYC... read more

Went on a Citifari Central Park Tour with Zoe and it was great. Zoe knew her stuff, help me understand my settings and she gave me a different perspective of Central Park. I now have a greater understanding of setting up my pictures, and how to "catch the moment". Great class, and I will definitely taken another tour with Citifari. read more