Photography Guide — Completing the Hyrule Compendium

TotK's Purah Pad Camera lets you photograph enemies, items, creatures, and locations to build the Hyrule Compendium — a 226-entry database that also powers the Sensor+ tracking ability. Completing the Compendium is one of TotK's completionist goals. This guide covers how it works and the most efficient approach.

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How the Camera Works

Accessing the Camera:

• Press Up on D-Pad (default) to open the Camera app
• Aim at a subject → center the subject in frame → press A to photograph

What to photograph:

• Enemies, monsters, animals, creatures
• Plants and materials
• Food and recipes
• Weapons (specific types)
• NPCs (optional — not required for Compendium)

Compendium registration: After photographing, the subject is registered in the Hyrule Compendium if it's a new entry.

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The Hyrule Compendium Overview

Total entries: 226 unique subjects across 5 categories

| Category | Entries | Examples | |---------|---------|---------| | Creatures | 78 | Animals, insects, fish, frogs | | Monsters | 90 | Bokoblins, Lynels, Dragons, bosses | | Materials | 11 | Gems, raw materials | | Food | 11 | Cooked dishes, raw food items | | Weapons & Equipment | 36 | Specific weapon types |

Completion reward: Completing all 226 entries gives a reward from Purah at Lookout Landing (rare material + recognition).

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Sensor+ and the Compendium

Why the Compendium matters beyond collection:

Every photographed entry becomes trackable with Sensor+:

• Set Sensor+ to any compendium entry
• It pings directionally as you move toward the nearest specimen
• Closer distance = faster ping interval

Most valuable Sensor+ uses from the Compendium:

• Korok Seeds (photograph one early → track all Koroks)
• Rare materials (Puffshroom, Silver Lynel parts)
• Star Fragments (track where they land)
• Dragon parts (track nearby dragons)
• Specific rare enemies for farming

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Photography Strategy

Photograph First, Study Later

The most efficient approach: photograph everything you see, immediately and without interrupting exploration.

• See a new enemy: open Camera, snap a photo → back to combat
• Find a new ingredient: photo first, pick up second
• Enter a new area: take a sweep photo of any visible creatures

Don't stop exploring to methodically photograph — integrate it into your normal gameplay.

Categories That Need Active Effort

Fish and aquatic creatures: Require wading into water or diving. Easy to miss.

• Where to photograph: Rivers, lakes, Lanayru Sea, Zora's Domain pools
• Note: Fish flee quickly — approach slowly and snap before they scatter

Insects and small creatures: Often found in grass and caves.

• Brightbloom Seeds in caves reveal cave insects
• Grassland insects: morning hours (in-game) have most active insect population

Rare monsters: Some only appear in specific conditions.

• Stalkoblin/Stalmoblin: Night only (skeleton enemies that appear after dark)
• Silver enemies: Only appear in late game or specific high-level areas

Depths-Specific Entries

Several compendium entries only appear in the Depths:

• Dark Clump material
• Gloom-affected variants of standard enemies
• Frox and other Depths-exclusive creatures

Complete Depths compendium entries during normal Depths farming runs — photograph everything new as you encounter it.

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Entries Players Commonly Miss

Night-Only Creatures

• Stalkoblin, Stalmoblin, Stalizalfos: Night only — sleep until midnight
• Bubbulfrog: Night, near water and caves
• Star Fragment (photograph it landing): Night — rare but photographable

Water Creatures

• Multiple fish species that require diving with Zora Armor
• Octorok: Sea Octoroks vs River Octoroks — different entries
• Water Chuchu: Different from standard Chuchu entry

Specific Variants

• Blue Bokoblin vs Red Bokoblin: Different entries
• Each colored Lizalfos (Fire, Ice, Electric) = separate entry
• Silver Lynel vs White-Maned Lynel: Different entries
• Each Gleeok variant: Different entries

Boss Entries

All bosses must be photographed during or immediately after the fight:

• The boss is only present during the boss room encounter
• You don't need to photograph them while fighting — they hold still between phases
• After defeat, in some cases, the corpse is briefly photographable

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Using Purchased Entries

If you've missed photographing a creature that despawned or is inaccessible, Robbie at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab sells compendium entries:

• Visit Robbie → he sells individual entries for rupees
• Costs vary: 100-500 rupees per entry
• Available for any entry you haven't photographed

This is the safety net — don't stress about missing photographs. Robbie's shop exists for this reason.

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Efficient Completion Order

Phase 1 (Early game — first 3 hours):

• Photograph everything on Great Sky Island
• Photograph all enemies encountered in first region
• All basic materials (herbs, cooking ingredients)

Phase 2 (Mid game):

• Each new region: photograph new regional creatures and enemies
• Cave photography: always bring Brightbloom Seeds
• Depths: photograph everything new on each session

Phase 3 (Late game):

• Check the Compendium for gaps
• Target specific missing entries (fish, night creatures, Depths-only)
• Purchase remaining gaps from Robbie

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Quick Tips

• Photograph immediately on seeing anything new — the compendium notification tells you if it's a new entry. Don't wait.
• Fish before fighting them — water creatures flee instantly when attacked. Photograph first, collect/fight second.
• Night creatures require active effort — set up a campfire near a major field area → sleep until midnight → photograph Stalkoblins and Bulbufrog variants before dawn.
• Robbie's shop removes pressure — knowing you can buy missed entries reduces anxiety about photographing everything perfectly. Explore freely and buy gaps later.
• Sensor+ on rare materials pays off — after photographing Puffshrooms or Silver Lynel parts, Sensor+ for those entries makes future farming sessions dramatically faster. The Compendium powers your farming.

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See also: Compendium Guide Advanced | Purah Pad Guide | 100% Completion Guide