Hands on with the iPhone 7 Plus’ crazy new Portrait mode

Techcrunch:

One of the most talked about features of the iPhone 7 at launch was the new Portrait mode.

It’s a software feature that used the two lenses of the iPhone 7 Plus to create the look and feel of an image shot with portrait settings on a camera with a telephoto lens.

Simply put: a pleasing blur that separates the foreground (person) from the background (other junk). I’m going to get a bit wonky in this piece because I feel the context will be sorely lacking once this feature hits widely — and there are some that are interested.

Everyone is raving about this article and, while it’s interesting, this “feature” is not “crazy”. Photographers have been creating this effect in camera for a hundred years. I’ll critique it and Panzarino’s photographs (gently – after all, I can’t make fun of a guy with a new baby named Enzo!) on tonight’s Your Mac Life “Starting Point Photography” segment. Bottom line is, you don’t have to wait for Apple’s iOS 10 “Portrait Mode” to create these kinds of images.