An often underused feature in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is Harv's Island. This is an area accessible via Dodo Airlines that serves as a photography studio, called Photopia, as well as the home of special NPC, Harvey ("Harv") the dog. Some fans have found the stereotypical hippie and his secluded studio a bit creepy, but there are a few notable uses for Harv's Island some players may not be aware of.
Most players know that they can obtain New Horizons villager posters through Harv's Island simply by inserting their villagers under the "Residents" menu once there. Posters appear under Nook Shopping for purchase once a villager has visited Harv's Island. Similarly, any Animal Crossing amiibo can be scanned here to receive that character's poster. This includes NPCs like K.K. Slider and Tom Nook. Even Animal Crossing amiibo characters that haven't appeared in New Horizons - like New Leaf's Lottie the otter - can have a poster made up once their amiibo is scanned.
Those who played New Horizons last summer likely used Harv's Island for another purpose: During the entire month of June, players could participate in Animal Crossing's wedding season to obtain wedding furniture from the alpaca couple, Reese and Cyrus. Yet there are more uses for Harv's Island outside of these two things, and YouTuber Starbuck Fox Ch. did an excellent job of highlighting some creative and unique applications for the photography studio.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Useful Harv's Island Photopia Features
The obvious use for Photopia is to take photos. Players can set up a scene with their villagers, give them any reaction they've learned, and pose with them to create specific scenes. One of the coolest aspects of Harv's Island is that any item a player has cataloged - including furniture, wallpaper and flooring, outfits, and even art obtained from Redd - can be used in the studio, regardless if the player currently has that item in the inventory. This is how players take pictures with villagers like the one seen in this article's header, as well as how creative videos like Animal Crossing meets Hamilton are made. Players can also set a scene for taking unique passport pictures, if desired.
Photopia allows villagers to try on any cataloged outfit. This is a great place to test different outfits on villagers to see what they'll look like before actually gifting them the clothes. Players can also utilize Harv's Island to plan out rooms. In addition to having access to any cataloged item, players can see every furniture's colorway option, even if they've yet to customize it as such. They do not, however, have access to items with different variations that can't be customized (a streetlamp, for example) if they do not have those variations cataloged. Using Photopia in this way can help save on using customization kits in New Horizons, and it also lets users know which items aren't customizable. Players can then decide if it's worth ordering or crafting a certain item.
Starbuck Fox Ch. also notes players can create a solid-green custom design and apply it to the floors and walls at Harv's Island in order to make a green screen room. Those savvy with chroma key compositing can then use software like Adobe After Effects to create any custom background they want. Harv's Island is an awesome place for players to let their creativity run wild. Considering the game is all about design and customization, Photopia is a welcome addition to Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Source: Starbuck Fox Ch./YouTube