Niagara Falls is one of the most photographed places on earth — and also one of the most frequently photographed badly. The tourist strip on Clifton Hill gives you a distant view through a chain-link fence; the real photography is found at Table Rock, on the Maid of the Mist, and at a handful of less-obvious angles that most day-trippers never find. The falls are spectacular year-round, but many photographers overlook the winter season, when ice formations build up around the base and the falls themselves partially freeze — the resulting images are among the most dramatic in all of Canadian photography.
Sunrise is ideal, but any clear morning works. Table Rock is the viewing platform at the very edge of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls — you are 5 metres from the lip of the falls with a face full of mist and 2,800 cubic metres of water per second passing you every moment. The wide-angle shot from Table Rock, looking south along the curve of the Horseshoe, shows the full scale of the falls in a single frame.
The tunnels below Table Rock let you exit through portals cut into the cliff face directly behind the curtain of water. The mist and spray here are intense — bring waterproofing for your camera. The shot of the falls from below, looking up through the cascade, is one that no postcard ever shows.
Mid-morning and afternoon. The Niagara River carves a gorge 11 km below the falls and the walking trail along the gorge rim gives a series of different perspectives on the river. The Whirlpool at 6 km below the falls is a natural hydraulic phenomenon — the river makes a sharp bend and the water circulates in a 37 m deep whirlpool visible from the observation deck above.
Golden hour. The Skylon Tower at 775 m from the falls gives the only true aerial perspective available to ground visitors — the observation deck at 160 m shows both the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls in a single frame, plus the Maid of the Mist boats on the river below. Sunset from the tower, when the falling water catches the orange light, is exceptional.
Morning and golden hour. 20 km north of the falls at the mouth of the Niagara River, Niagara-on-the-Lake is the best-preserved 19th-century town in Ontario — Georgian storefronts, white-painted wooden buildings, and a lakefront with Fort George behind it. The main street (Queen Street) in morning light before the wine-country tourists arrive gives quiet, composed heritage shots.
The Niagara Peninsula is the largest wine region in Canada. The vine rows in autumn, with the golden leaves and Lake Ontario in the background, are a classic agricultural photograph. Many wineries are on or near the Niagara Parkway.
Any clear morning. The Maid of the Mist boat tour is the only way to see the falls from water level — the boat drives directly into the mist cloud at the base of the Horseshoe Falls, 30 m from the falling water. The scale only becomes apparent from this position. Bring a waterproof case for your phone or camera — everything gets soaked.
Any clear winter day. In cold winters (January–February) ice builds up around the base of the falls and along the Niagara River gorge, sometimes completely encasing the American Falls. The resulting landscape — white ice flows, frozen mist on the trees, steam rising from the still-falling water — is extraordinary and almost never shown in Niagara photography.
Until 1912 tourists could walk across the ice bridge that formed below the falls each winter. A tragedy ended that tradition, but the ice formations remain. The viewing areas at Table Rock and Queen Victoria Park give the best angles on the ice formations from above.