Photobomb Techniques: A Tutorial

The Holidays are upon us and regrettably we all will soon be subject to excessive amounts of photo taking. I want to encourage you to make your holidays just a bit more special and work some photobomb magic into your family’s lives and memories. Here we have examples of the most popular photobomb techniques all posted courtesy of www.thisiphotobomb.com, a website I adore and so too should you.

1. 8 Ball in the Side Pocket Bomb. is the classic, the standard, the go to bomb for 90% of the population. Proper execution involves either an element of surprise or stealth along with truly unforgettable facial gesticulation. As seen in our third example, A Full Frontal 8 Ball is always awarded extra style and bravery points.

2. Ball 1, Ball 2 Bomb. Yet another time honored classic requiring either stealth or surprise and amazing facial gestures and- naturally- inserting one’s bomb-i-ness between subjects.

3. Blue Moon Bomb. Far too many photo bombers find great joy in exposing their buns, poopers, nads, tatas and nuk nuks to an unwitting photog. In this case, it is clear the photo was intentional. It appears, however, that the moon was not.

4. Tweaker Bomb. Much like the Blue Moon, the Tweaker is a disturbing favorite. And is usually performed by young - presumably inebriated- men who are often rotund and almost always shirtless. Here we have a rare TPT Bomb (Third Party Tweaker).

5. The Dick Van Dyke Bomb. In the DVD, bombers are found using outrageous body gesticulations,coupled with what we hope is an element of surprise. Ideally, the humor is derived from thejuxtaposition of the Bomber’s flamboyance with the intended subject’s pose. In other words, jazz hands, people, jazz hands.

6. Vampires! Didn’t you see the Zombies? Bomb. A Bomb derivative of the classics: “8 Ball” and “Ball 1 Ball 2”, this variation includes any facial expression conveying evil. Lunging and clawing are optional. Ideally the intended victim has no idea anything is about to happen and conveys a serene, joyful expression.

7. Cat bomb. Cats are notorious photobombers, be on the lookout. Here we have a hybrid example of Cat and Full Frontal 8 Ball Bombs. Cats are awesome.

8. Romantic Moment Bomb. It turns out that people really love to bomb a tender gesture. So common is the RMB, that it takes a stunning display of bombing, like we demonstrate here, to faze the average connoisseur.

9. Pick a Winner (Farley) Bomb. Here we have a hybrid of two standard photo bomb techniques: The RMB and the Farley. Surprisingly (perhaps) a disproportionate number use the Farley as their “go to” bomb gesture in RMBs.

10.Window Bomb. The lure of the Window Bomb is -of course- the immortalization of anonymity.

11.Dirty Bird Bomb. Young men everywhere love to insert their “façade” into places where they would never otherwise stand a chance of entering.

12.Ninja Bomb. While ninja uniforms are not De riguer, stealth is required. Not surprisingly, the majority of ninja bombs go undetected, due to the ninja’s relative skill set. Here we find a relatively rare posting of what appears to be a ninja in training.

13. Toyota Bomb. formerly known as the “NesTea Plunge Bomb”, renamed this year when Toyota took over corporate sponsorship. The Toyota Bomb involves any full body crossing of the 4th wall, preferably in front of the intended photo subject. Extra points for expressing joie de vivre. Oh what a feeling!

More Toyota Bombs…

14.The Unintended Bomb. The Unintended Bomb arises when none of the subjects realize a bomb is ticking. The inexperienced photobomb observer might think this is a hybrid Unintended-Zombie, but they would be mistaken. Zombies are never intended subjects.

15.The “Wait for it” Bomb. The WFI requires extra vigilance on the viewer’s part to determine where the bomb has landed. Here we have a combo Cat-WFI-WTF Bomb, Enjoy.

16.The Bird is the Werd Bomb The Bird is the Werd, an oldie but a goodie, has fallen out of favor in recent years, as people opt for Blue Moons and Zombie Attacks. Here we have a prime example of when such a bomb would have been truly shocking to film developers in the 1970’s.

17. The Bunny Bomb. Another classic, and quite possibly the Original Photobomb, that has fallen out of favor. Here the participants attempt to update the Bunny by adding a Tweaker.

18. Potty Bombs. It is disturbing how many people love to take shots while someone is in the background on the pot. I just like the Datsyuk Jersey. (Sorry Pasha!)

19. The WTF Bomb. Characterized by being unclassifiable but utterly delish! Especially delightful when combined with the Wait for it Bomb, as we see in our second example.

AND finally:

20. The Bobby Orr Bomb. Just because.