How to Use the Portrait Lens on an iPhone

At our Thanksgiving gathering, I shot some portraits of

Miss Chloe

Surprisingly, these were not taken with my big DSLR camera...

they were taken with my iPhone!

Look at that bokeh!!!!

I finally upgraded my iPhone to the XS-Max this fall,

and I have been playing a lot with the portrait mode

and want to share what I learned.

Starting with the iPhone 7 Plus, all the plus versions have  portrait mode.

To use it, simply click on Portrait

in the camera menu:

The portrait mode will zoom in closer than the photo mode,

so you will need to back up.

You must be between 2 and 8 feet from the subject to use the portrait mode.

If you see this warning,

you need to back up until it disappears:

Once, you're at the correct distance, use your finger to tap on

the screen where you want the phone to focus.

A yellow box will appear and the phone will focus in that location

and intuitively outline the subject to separate it from the background:

Now, take the photo!

Next, go to your photo app 

and click SELECT in the upper right corner,

then click on the portrait photo you just took.

Click EDIT in the top right corner:

Now, for the exciting part!  You can blur the background as much

as you want using this slider:

You can change the aperture from f 1.4-f 16!

Here's f 16 which created very little  background blur:

Slide all the way to the left for f 1.4.

Look how the tree lights turned into amazing blurred bokeh

while the subject is still in focus!

The best part...YOU get to choose which aperture YOU like best!

Here is my final edit of the photo which I liked at f 4.5.

This looks like a photo I took with my DSLR!

The portrait lens allows you to be so much more creative with

your iPhone photos!

This was taken with the regular iphone lens.

The clutter in the background is distracting.

Look at that same photo shot with the portrait lens:

You can have extra fun playing with your portrait mode

placing  your pretty Christmas lights at a distance in the background.

Also try photographing your Christmas tree,

and moving the phone quickly while you take it to create some

fun light effects!

Enjoy your portrait lens this holiday season!