How To Use IPhone 7 Plus Portrait Mode To Create Background Blur

The iPhone 7 Plus Portrait mode is the perfect tool for creating amazing looking portrait photos (and more!) with your iPhone. Portrait mode allows you to easily create a shallow depth of field in your photos. This results in a beautifully blurry background that can usually only be achieved with a DSLR camera. In this tutorial you’ll discover how to use the iPhone 7 Plus Portrait mode to create professional looking iPhone photos with wonderful background blur. What Is Portrait Mode, Portrait mode is a unique shooting mode available in the native camera app of the iPhone 7 Plus. It uses a special Depth Effect tool to create a shallow depth of field in your photos. Shallow depth of field simply means that only a small part of the image is in focus while the rest is blurred. In most cases you would want your main subject to appear in sharp focus while the background appears blurred. This soft blurry background is often called “bokeh” which comes from Japanese.

Why Use A Shallow Depth Of Field, A shallow depth of field is often used by portrait photographers. Because it places the emphasis on the person (or animal) and creates a soft, dreamy backdrop behind them. Blurring the background is also really useful when shooting in locations with a busy, messy or distracting backdrop. The blurring makes the background secondary, bringing the viewer’s attention back to the main subject in the foreground. Shallow depth of field isn’t something you’d use for every kind of photo. You typically wouldn’t want a blurry background in a landscape or architectural photo as you’d want to see everything clearly from foreground to background. However, in portrait photography, a shallow depth of field will make a huge difference to the impact of your image. By blurring the background you can really make your subject stand out. In the past, the iPhone camera hasn’t allowed you to have any control over the depth of field in your photos. You’ve mostly just had the option to have everything in focus - unless your main subject was very close to the lens, in which case the background would appear blurred.

But with Portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus, you can now choose what’s in focus and what isn’t. This gives you unprecedented control over your iPhone camera, allowing you to mimic the look of DSLR cameras that can capture a shallow depth of field. While Portrait mode is perfect for shooting photos of people and animals, it can actually be used to blur the background behind any kind of subject. Many things look better when there’s a soft, dreamy background behind them - especially if that background would distract the viewer from the main subject. Creating a shallow depth of field with Portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus is very easy. The first thing you’ll notice when you switch to Portrait mode is that everything gets bigger. That’s because the camera automatically switches over to the iPhone’s 2x telephoto lens. The telephoto lens typically creates more flattering portrait photos than the wide angle lens which can distort facial features. You’ll also notice the words Depth Effect appear at the bottom of the screen. And your phone will help you by giving on-screen instructions if you don’t have things framed up optimally for a nice portrait shot.

Once you’re the right distance from your subject, the words Depth Effect will be highlighted in yellow. You’re now ready to shoot, so tap the shutter button to take your photo. After taking the picture, you’ll notice that two versions of the image appear in the Photos app. Comparing these two versions of the image really shows how much nicer a portrait photo looks when it has a shallow depth of field. When shooting with the iPhone 7 Plus Portrait mode, it’s important to consider your background as well as your subject. The type of background you shoot against, and how far it is from your subject, will both have a big impact on the final image. The Depth Effect in Portrait mode works best when your subject is far away from the background. The further away the subject is from the background, the more pleasant blur you’ll get. So if your background doesn’t look blurry enough when shooting in Portrait mode, move your subject further away from the background.