Best friend photo ideas

The best best-friend photos look like your friendship: mid-laugh, mid-joke, doing the thing you always do together. Here are 20 ideas for poses, places and props for two or three friends, all doable with one iPhone and a timer.

Poses for two

1. Piggyback ride The shorter friend rides for once. Shoot a burst from the front as they jump on, both laughing.
2. Album cover, then the crack-up Back to back, arms crossed, serious faces. Keep shooting: the frame where one of you breaks is better.
3. Copy my face One friend pulls a face and the other copies it. Shoot them side by side, cheek to cheek.
4. Swap outfits Trade clothes for the day and pose as each other, copying the other’s usual photo pose.
5. Chalk outlines Draw around each other in sidewalk chalk, then lie back down in your outlines and shoot from above.
6. Jump on three Count down and jump. Burst finds the frame where you’re both off the ground.

Places

1. Road-trip snack stop Spread the gas-station snack haul across the hood of the car at the first stop and shoot both of you choosing.
2. Car karaoke While parked, shoot from the back seat as you both sing the same chorus into a hairbrush.
3. Thrift store dare Each friend picks the worst outfit for the other. Shoot the reveal in the fitting-room mirror.
4. Paint night Paint each other’s portrait, then pose holding the bad portraits next to your real faces.
5. Library study session Two faces peeking over a tower of textbooks, shot from across the table.
6. Where you met Go back to the school, office or dorm where you met and recreate your first photo together.

Props and inside jokes

1. Friendship bracelets A close-up of two wrists with matching bracelets, hands linked.
2. Half-heart necklaces Each friend holds up their half so the two pieces meet in the middle of the frame.
3. Disposable camera Photograph each other taking photos with a disposable camera, winding the film.
4. Movie night spread Snacks spread on the bed, shot from above as two hands reach for the same bowl.
5. Pillow fight Shoot a burst mid-swing, one pillow about to land.
6. Friendship anniversary cake A small cake with the number of years you’ve been friends piped on top, held between you.
7. Nails and coffee Matching nail color, two cups and two pastries on a café table, shot from above.
8. The group chat, acted out Re-enact your most-used emoji or reaction GIF together, one pose per frame.

Make it move

Pick a photo in Tada and choose:

• Lively in Make it Live: people laugh, turn their head, wave or gesture, and hair and clothes swing. It fits the piggyback, the jump and the crack-up.
• Soundtrack, an AI look, draws music notes, a little vinyl record and sound-wave squiggles around the subject, and the notes bob to a beat. It’s a drawing, so there’s no sound, but it suits car karaoke.
• Stickers: the Classic pack has heart glasses, star glasses and speech bubbles. Tada places them on the person; drag, pinch or turn one to move it onto your friend.

Lively and Soundtrack use 1 AI tada each (3 free). Tada asks your permission first, then works with OpenAI and xAI to make them (privacy). For siblings, see sister photo ideas.

iPhone tips for photos together

• No one to hold the phone? Swipe up from the camera modes, tap Timer, choose 10 and lean the phone on a bag.
• For jumps, piggybacks and pillow fights, swipe the Shutter button to the left to shoot a burst.
• On iPhones with a 0.5x lens, tap 0.5x and hold the phone close and low for a wide, playful shot of both of you.
• Stand facing a window or in open shade so both faces get the same light.

Questions

Sources: Apple Support: Use iPhone camera tools to set up your shot · Apple Support: Capture action shots with Burst mode on your iPhone camera · Apple Support: iPhone camera basics

More you can do

• Sister photo ideas
• 21st birthday photo ideas
• Animate a photo
• Add stickers that move
• All guides