This application provides a photographing method and a control device, and relate to the field of communications. The photographing method comprises: a shutter triggering step of triggering a virtual shutter according to a first input instruction of a user; an information recording step of recording photographing related information at a moment of triggering the virtual shutter; a request sending step of sending a photo obtaining request to a server, where the photo obtaining request comprises the photographing related information; and a photo obtaining step of receiving at least one photo provided by the server according to the photo obtaining request. The photographing method and the control device provide convenience for a user to photograph and obtain an interested photo from a photo library, so as to improve user experience.