How to obtain villager photos on Animal Crossing: New Horizons

I have read a lot of "guides" and watched videos about obtaining villager photos - it was all super confusing at first because I had no idea that there was such a thing in the game (yes, try playing the game organically as I did at first, with minimal online reading... it gets daunting). Even after reading a whole heap, I still didn't understand what was going on... hahaha. Well, here's a guide for dummies... or at least I'll try to cut out the unnecessary stuff, because it was too much information in one go.

Basically someone did an experiment or looked into game data (I'm not too sure how), and figured out what actions would add bonus points to an invisible friendship meter. Look, I can care less how many points is equal to what, but I can tell you what you can gift them (foolproof), and when to expect a photo in return. I think if you think of it this way, it will make your life easier.

But firstly though, the question is do you wish to keep your villager ungifted?

An ungifted villager means they do not have anything extra or changed from their original interior of their home, and no other clothing apart from their original default set of clothing (ie. their favourite outfit - they also have their own training, rain and seasonal outfits, but these are default if you do not gift them clothing). Usually ungifted villagers are desirable as they are almost as good as picking them from a mystery island, and you can get a good number of Nook Mile Tickets from another player if you choose to go down this avenue. 

Some people might argue that you if you really liked the villager you wouldn't care if the villager was gifted or not - true, but for a classic example like Julian's lovely zodiac room, some players had massive regrets gifting random things like a "we're open" neon diner sign which replaced his lovely furniture, starry garlands missing from the wall, and well, you get the idea. For my personal experience, I tried super hard to get Ozzie's photo, and his house was a complete mess and I really felt sorry for the person who invited him when Ozzie was in boxes, because his house was destroyed. In hindsight, you do not need to gift them that much to get a photo. And as such, I keep my villagers ungifted, and if I do gift them anyway, it's clothing I want them to wear (not clothing they like - there's a difference).

Things villagers like to receive, regardless

This is a fool-proof, no-brainer list that will guarantee a return gift that is an item of clothing, furniture, or a photo.

• Non-native fruit, wrapped - I usually wrap two or three together - you can shake a tree and wrap whatever falls from it, or you can organise a stack of two or three in your pocket and wrap it - whatever is easier for you
• Coral, giant clams, summer shells, gold nuggets - wrapped.
  One wrapped is enough for the gold nugget as it is high value. For the others you can just wrap one, or you can wrap a stack of two. It really depends on what your mood is.
• Large assessed fossils, wrapped. What I mean by large is when you place the fossil, you can see it has a wooden base. If it's a tiny lil rock like a trilobyte, they have a chance of displaying these, so I'd say no.
• Furniture, wrapped. I try to avoid gifting furniture, as I do like to keep my villagers as ungifted as possible. You also do not need to gift them furniture, as the above three are pretty much free and don't require bells to purchase. If I do gift them furniture, I try to gift them a door wreath in their favourite colour (just as a reminder, a gold or blue rose wreath is worth 20K bells and make for a great gift if they like yellow or blue respectively... try avoiding the cheaper wreaths such as the stick wreath,  but all flower wreaths are OK), 2.0x2.0 piece such as a hearth (DIY furniture I think is better than non-DIY furniture), or like a double bed (especially if they already have a double bed in their house - gift them the same one they have) - and they will not display it. But having said that, if you gift too much furniture, they have a certain amount of storage space and will start dumping their furniture... so their furniture starts disappearing.
  A lot of posts online suggest gifting iron wall lamps... which is all good because they don't display them, but they probably will start getting rid of their furniture...
• Gold roses, wrapped (though they will display them)
• Flower/floral crowns in their favourite colours, wrapped (though they will wear them)

Not all villagers like the clothing you gift them. Even if it's in their favourite colour or style, they still might umm and ahh.

Now to understand how to get a photo, you must also understand the mechanics behind what kind of conditions forces them to return an item, with the chance of it being a photo:

• The gift must be of a certain value, and something they like
  So yes, that cheap 600 bell tshirt from Ables will NOT warrant a return gift
  And maybe that 1200 bell shirt from Ables might get you bells in return
  But if you gift them something 4800, they will never gift you bells back, and you will always get an item in return, such as clothing, furniture... or a photo
  As such, my list above of what they like, always will guarantee they gift you an item of clothing, furniture, or a photo. They will never gift you bells, and they will mostly certainly not give you nothing.

• Your friendship has hit a certain level, and if it's your first photo, the chances of getting a photo is about 10%
  Usually if they ask you to buy something from them, ask you to play a game, ask you to change a catch phrase, or have a flea on them, you have a good chance that your friendship level is adequate enough to warrant a photo in return.
  But this 10% chance does not mean within the next 10 days you have 1 day of getting the photo... it means every day you have a 1 in 10 chance of receiving it. So it could take FOREVER if unlucky (looking at you Ozzie, it took me maybe 3 or 4 months). 

Ways to speed up getting a photo once your friendship level is adequate:

• Full pocket fruit stack method
  I fill up my pocket with three stacks of non-native fruit, with the rest of my slots as sticks or other strange things so I can combine them and get an empty slot if I need to gift someone who is crafting (I hate it when they force me to take DIY cards and need an extra slot).
  Gift your villager with a fruit from that stack of at least 2 (they will only take one, and it will not be wrapped, doesn't need to be). They will offer to send you a return gift in the mail.
  Usually I find this method more effective to getting a second photo, as they disregard a certain number of presents they receive before issuing a second photo. Some players find success in this method if the first photo takes too long.
• Time travel
  You can travel back and forth, or a day at a time, and gift your villager(s) every day. So you can gift them a weeks' or more worth of presents in a day... if you have nothing else to do (which is my case, I've finished terraforming, I am only waiting to finish my critterpedia and I don't do turnips). It really speeds up the process super quick.
• Force close game and reuse a chance
  If you're not a fan of time travel, you can gift your villager, and if the return gift is not a photo, close the game without saving, reload and gift again - and repeat the process until you do get a photo. The advantage is you stay on the same day. The disadvantage is that your friendship meter does not progress as you have not loaded a new day each time you restart the game. HOWEVER this method comes in handy sometimes.
  For instance, I rarely do this, but I did this once as I had Francine at my campsite, knew that Ketchup was almost at the stage of returning a photo (the rest of my villagers either came after Ketchup or are permanent residents). I didn't want any other residents to leave, other than Ketchup. So I gifted her and closed the game every time she returned something that was not her photo - a few times. I was lucky on my third attempt Ketchup gave me her photo, and I saved the game after hanging her photo on the wall. After saving the game you can repeat this process with another villager, if you meet the conditions for a photo and want it ASAP, otherwise you can leave it for another day (which I did, as my villagers usually move in at 1 week intervals from each other, so I'm in no rush for a photo from my newer villagers).
  After I received Ketchup's photo, I was again very lucky that Francine picked Ketchup on the first attempt... so I moved her out.
  Had I rolled another day, Francine would have been gone from my campsite.

After I had established the above gifts, it usually takes me about 2-3 weeks to get a photo (faster because I time travel). On average I move a villager out one every week or two weeks, because I want to rotate a few slots to get more villager photos, and have one I can "move out any time" in case I get a good camper, like Francine (I'm aiming for an almost all rabbit island, and it was the first time I had ever come across her, and I've been playing for about 6+ months). When I first started, I would usually gift them stuff that I got from other villagers (mostly weird clothing and furniture), and stuff I obtained from balloons. I mean, this is all understandable, because it's just whatever you have in your pocket at the time.

Over time though, most of the clothing is junk (because I will never wear it and it clogs up the storage - I mean, why should I gift my villagers something even I wouldn't wear?), so I just sell it to the Nooklings and order it if I ever really do need it. If you're struggling with bells, you'll need to step up the turnip game, which I might write about in another post.

And that's all it is for obtaining villager photos! It takes patience, and a bit of luck. What I do is I usually hang my photos in my upper storey wall, in order of when I received them as a hall of fame. I then save the game. Never ever go to Nooks directly after receiving a photo in case you accidentally sell it as you cannot reorder photos. Stay safe!

Yours,

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