The estates also provide a different view of Hong Kong, which is more often photographed for its iconic skyline.

“Posing in front of public housing complexes where so many people live creates the sense that they’re in the middle of the world,” said Cyrus Wong, an architectural assistant who researched the popularity of public housing on Instagram as part of his master’s thesis.

Sometimes, those selfie-takers are posing in the middle of a basketball game.

Vincent Yeung, 23, has lived at Choi Hung Estate almost his entire life. On a recent Saturday afternoon, he was the lone basketball player on courts that were otherwise packed with photographers.

“There are too many people taking photos here,” he said. “My friends have gone elsewhere to play.”

A few months ago, he was playing a game of 3-on-3 when a couple decided to sit in the middle of the court for photos. A stray ball inevitably hit them, Mr. Yeung said, and the couple exploded in anger, cursing at him and his friends.

“If we scold them, we’re accused of discrimination,” he said of the mainland tourists who are among the visitors to the estate. “But if we don’t scold them — well, we’re playing basketball here! It’s really a dilemma.”

There are no explicit rules against photography at the estates, but passcodes are required to enter the buildings themselves.