How to take the best screenshots in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Taking screenshots in  Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a lot more complex in the Nintendo Switch title than it was in older games, and it can seem daunting trying to figure out how to get the perfect shot in the game. Here are our tips and tricks.

In previous Animal Crossing titles, taking a screenshot literally just meant pressing one or two buttons – if it had the feature at all. There were barely any ways to take a stylish pic, and if you wanted a filter on it, you had to export it onto your PC or phone, and then run it through a photo-editing app.

All that changed with New Horizons, as your in-game NookPhone allows you to capture your gameplay in a new way thanks to the Camera application. Taking a great screenshot can be tricky to get to grips with though, especially with all the fresh features that come along with it – but that’s why we’re here to help you master the basics.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons screenshot guide

The Camera application houses several different features: in and out zoom, filters, frames, a whistle to get villagers to look directly towards you, your Reaction wheel, and the ability to change angles to either zoomed-out, mid or close up. How you use them then depends on the type of shot you want to take.

Let’s say you want to take a nice photograph of your island scenery like in the image above, but you don’t want your character in it, so what do you do? The clever use of angles while also hiding behind a tree makes it so nobody will ever know you’re there – our sprite is hidden in the back, blocked out by the greenery, but you’d never guess.

There will also be times when your villagers will interact with you and with each other, which can make the perfect time to take a cute screenshot. It’s easier to do if you visit somebody’s house, but it can be done outside – or even with amiibo figures and cards at Harvey’s Island.

Placing furniture outside increases your chances of witnessing an adorable interaction, much like in the photo above where Lolly and Flurry are eating lunch together with our character. Using the whistle makes everybody in the picture look towards the camera, and is perfect when paired with a Reaction emote.

While there are three ‘official’ angles when taking a screenshot, there’s also a fourth, but it’s not actually in the app. To take a diagonal photo, you’ll need to pick up the mailbox outside of your house – yes, you can move it! Position it to the left of whatever you want to take a still off.

When you open it, it’ll swerve the camera diagonally for a second, and this is when you’re going to want to get trigger-happy with the screenshot button. If you’re too slow and the main UI pops up, simply exit out and try again until you get it.

Obviously, your character will be on the left side of the picture, so just move it over to your PC or phone, crop it out using a photo editor, and you’ll have a perfectly positioned shot.

For all of your pics, you can use the in-game filters and frames to jazz them up – for example, the black and white and sepia options give your image a vintage look, or you can make it Instagram-ready with ones that play around with brightness and contrast.

That’s everything you need to know about screenshotting in Animal Crossing New Horizons! Check out some other guides below: