I have played the game since it came out, and I have raised my friendship with my villagers to I believe is the highest. I have photos of my first 10 villagers, but have since replaced some of them. I have been diligent in giving gifts and talking to them every day, and I have yet to get photos of the new villagers despite being high enough. Is there a limit? Do I have to keep going? It feels like it’s taking longer then it did with the first 10. Please help. I want to have photos of all my current villagers as well as the past ones.
There's no limit to photos you can earn- plenty of people set out to collect them all!
Raising the friendship to the highest possible level is the most important part. But what are you gifting them? What I do is gift 2 exotic fruit (wrapped as a stack) each day. The present needs to be worth a certain amount (750 bells, I think?) to make it possible to get a pic back. Some people do fossils or furniture, but even items they don't display in their house goes into their "inventory", meaning they may lose furniture if you gift enough. If you're not concerned about keeping them original, that isn't an issue, of course.
After that, it's entirely random. Some can gift it in what seems like record times, others will linger for months without offering one. It's a mix of making sure you're gifting properly and luck.
I can confirm two wrapped non-native fruits as a gift every day always gets me a photo sooner or later. I never give any other kind of gift, and I get photos from all of my villagers. But it does take a while. I think on average, it takes me about forty days, gifting the villager two wrapped non-native fruits every day, to get a photo from a villager. It's not guaranteed when you reach maximum friendship, just it becomes more likely, I think. There's just a certain threshold of friendship you have to reach, then the photo becomes a possible return gift when gifting them. Or at least that's my understanding of it. Just have to be patient and persistent, I think.
Also: You can get more than one photo from the same villager. I’ve had Kiki move onto my island near the very beginning (and randomly, no less, which was awesome bc she’s my fav), and I’ve had her on my island for about 8(ish) months. I still gift her items pretty much on the daily, and mostly fossils/hanging dyis. She’s given me her photo twice, so far.
I will give you a list of all the items I recommend giving your villagers in order to get their Photos faster. All these items must be wrapped up using "Wrapping Paper" which you can buy from the Nook Cranny's shop in the Cabinet:
1. A bunch of non native fruit 10 of them (depending on what native fruit you have on your island that you don't have)
2. A bunch of Pumpkins 10 of them it can be only color
3. Furniture items like High End Stereo and Antique Chair do work. I found that every villager from each personality seems to really love them.
4, Crating items like Iron Wall Lamps can work also
5. Giving them Fossils. They seem to love that as well.
Hope this helps you, because as someone who has been doing this photo hunt thing for so long, these are the items that I know work the best. Just remember to wrap them in gifts it will help boost up the friendship. One last thing you can gift them these items on their Birthday and there is a possible chance your villager can send their Photo in the mail the day after their birthday. Trust me it does work when I got Kid Cat's photo 4 months ago.
