Apple has just released two brief video tutorial through its YouTube channel, explaining the operation of the new Portrait Lighting feature on the iPhone 8 Plus. The function, which was introduced with the iPhone 8 generation and the iPhone X, lets the user add a variety of simulated lighting effects to portrait images.
The device uses its dual-camera and machine learning to produce a depth-map of the image and apply lighting and blur effects to the scene. Available effects include Natural Light, Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light and Stage Light Monochrome. Portrait Lighting can be activated while shooting or applied in editing at a later stage.
The first of the tutorials focuses on Portrait Lighting in shooting mode, the second shows how to apply the effect when editing through the Photos app.
Regarding the bokeh produced by the iPhone X, it’s not perfect and likely won’t be for quite some time. Most of us who have shot with an SLR or DSLRs using a lens with a cameras aperture know longer lenses with wide open aperture sproduce some impressive bokeh. So far as any smartphone I’ve yet seen , this new X does an impressive job of primarily simulating bokeh. I enjoy using this sort of technology based on both hardware and software. I’m not kidding myself in thinking somehow I’m going to get the same DOF bokeh from the phone as from my DSLRs. However I think the simulation from this phone is nicer than it is from some cameras. What I’ve alwys likes about DOF is being able to soften the surrounding area so as to draw attention to the subject. Well the iPhone simulation does that so yes, it is useful.
Are you blind? It looks awful. This must be trolling, it has to be. There is a huge difference between real and fake bokeh, and not just how it masks from "in-focus" to "out-of-focus". Bokeh is also not typically that smooth, making it look even more faked. And the fact that it removes all noise in "out-of-focus" areas means it is very apparant.
Only when nitpicking. On a first glace it looks more than fine. And why does it need to be "real"? If people are looking for smooth, what's wrong with going for that?
Please note that using the Portrait mode will automatically zoom in with 2x. I guess Apple really wants to remind users that Portrait is REALLY for portrait only (at least for now). I actually used it for my sister's dog, which turned out to be pretty good as well, as long as the object occupies the main frame, with not much else in the back.
Yes, it is the second lens. Still, the field of view is narrowed while using the portrait mode. It's more or less a gimmick for now. The latest iOS and 8/8+ do have a few other features that greatly enhanced the IQ and versatility of the phone camera. For example, by holding down the home button while in the photo mode, the camera can capture "burst" of photos for quick moving objects and allow the user to pick the ones to keep after the burst shots.
Yeah, the people calling it a zoom are not technically correct. If anything it is a medium prime. While portrait lighting and fake bokeh are a bit of a gimmick, having a second useful focal length is not.
Apparently the race to improving smartphone cameras/photos has been fierce, and we ain't seeing the end of it (maybe never?). For 8+, the "wide" prime lens has stabilization and faster (thus implying better a IQ in general). The "medium" prime is slightly slower and does not have stabilization. The front facing camera fares even worse in terms of IQ.
Having said that, I have been mightily impressed by 8+'s HDR, and apparently there's also a built-in barrel correction to keep straight lines ALL straight.
I wish Apple in the future could make the "wide" even wider (I think currently it's only 28mm), to maybe 24mm or even 22mm? I am willing to sacrifice a little speed for a wider field of view.
These got me at the word "brief." I participate in other sites that post how-to videos and they drone on and on and on with chit chat and set up and all I really need is to see how it's done once, knowing I can always replay or freeze if needed. So I appreciated this.
Dr. Blackjack, get back to me when a cell phone can give me the same quality as using a 5DSR with a Canon 85mm f1.2. I would be keen to buy one. Until then, leave the gimmics to the selfie queens.
Portrait mode I could just about handle, but this I can't. What's happening to the world of photography?! Super gimmicky, marketing fluff and worse of all, terrible looking.
That it's degrading the work and investment we as photographers put into acquiring and learning how to use our camera systems to get such effects and how and when to use it. Apple (along with other) smartphone manufacturers are slowly killing of the "Pro" market (by that I mean the people that make their living off photography), as unfortunately for the average consumers, these results are good enough (their not really!).
Nobody has an obligation to keep your profession alive. If the artistic value you can provide gets outcompeted by a computational blur filter, then maybe it's you whose lost in the sauce. If your customers can't tell the difference then it's good enough, and anything you claim to the contrary is no longer something you say as a pro.
It's called a paradigm shift, so get over it. It happened to the Swiss watch makers when quartz watches took over, it happened to the music industry when records and tapes morphed into digital mp3s, it happened to film when cameras went digital, etc. The first rule of paradigms is that when the paradigm shifts, everyone gets put back to zero. Your past success guarantees you nothing.
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