How to enhance your smartphone photos with Portrait mode

While your smartphone’s normal camera mode can help you capture amazing photos, you can’t control its depth of field. So pictures of people and objects may not look exactly as you want them to. Fortunately, if you have Portrait mode on your phone, you can lift up pictures from your smartphone.

What is Portrait mode?

Portrait mode is a standalone mode in your Camera app that’s primarily for taking pictures of people and animals, but it’s more versatile than you might think. I sometimes use this mode to capture images of inanimate objects, for example. Portrait mode effectively enhances your subject by focusing on it and blurring the background.

You can use Portrait mode to take smartphone photos in a variety of aesthetics, though you’ll need to edit them later to get the effect you want. You’ll need at least an iPhone 7 Plus or Galaxy S21 to use Portrait mode.

In addition to adjusting the brightness as you can with normal camera settings, Portrait mode allows you to adjust the aperture and also allows you to change the studio lighting of your images. By default, my iPhone camera has natural light on, but I can also choose spot lighting, outline lighting, and even some monochrome options.

How to get better photos with Portrait mode

Taking better photos in Portrait mode requires some photography knowledge, and you also need to know how and when to use each feature. Based on personal experience, here are my top tips for capturing better images using Portrait mode.

1. Understand the basics of Aperture

Knowing how to widen and narrow the aperture is only one part of the puzzle. Understanding when to use a different f-stop is also essential to maximizing Portrait mode; you have an advantage if you’ve used a DSLR camera in the past, but it’s not impossible to learn from scratch.

Portrait mode on my iPhone allows me to set the depth between f/1.4 and f/16. The closer to kf/1.4 your camera is, the less sharp your background will be; f/16 does the opposite. After taking a picture, you can change the aperture in the Photos app.

I almost never use portrait mode at f/16 as it can be quite distracting. One of the biggest mistakes in smartphone photography is thinking that a higher aperture means sharper photos, but that’s not always the case.

I think the best results often come from understanding the rules about aperture and breaking them when it makes sense. So you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment.

2. Don’t make your background too blurry

Another rookie mistake is thinking you need the widest possible aperture to achieve bokeh or a blurred background. This can definitely help in some situations, especially if you don’t have a lot of objects in the background. However, I’ve noticed that Portrait mode can start to blur some of your main subjects if you widen the aperture too much.

When you widen the aperture too much and the main subject is blurred, your shot starts to have an “AI generated” look. The aperture at which this starts to happen will depend on each individual photo, but if you know how to control this aspect, your smartphone pictures will look like they were taken with a camera.

3. Keep a small distance between yourself and the subject

When shooting in Portrait mode, you need to stand at least 2.5 meters from the subject, but in some cases you may want to stand a little further. This allows you to get more of your surroundings into the frame, which is ideal if the background tells an interesting story.

How far you should stand from your subject will also depend on what you are shooting. For example, you might need to get a little closer if you want to take a headshot. On the other hand, a full body portrait will require you to create more distance.

Also think about how much space you have around you; keep in mind that it may be harder to create distance in crowded areas. Still, you might prefer to shoot street photography on a smartphone instead of a DSLR—especially in Portrait mode.

4. Include other interesting elements in your photo

Some of my favorite photos include multiple elements outside of the subject that make the story more interesting. For example, when taking a picture with the rule of thirds, you can add a part of the landscape behind the main subject.

You can also ask the main subject to use various props, such as an umbrella. If you’re planning a photo shoot, storyboarding in advance can help you achieve better results. I also suggest thinking about unique perspectives that could help you get amazing smartphone photos without the need for a high-end camera.

5. Choose the right portrait lighting

Since Portrait mode allows you to choose from multiple lighting options, knowing when to use them is crucial to maximizing the shots you take. On my iPhone, Natural Light is the most versatile, but Contour Light is better when I want to add some contrast to my images. Studio Light, meanwhile, is better in low-light scenarios.

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You have some wiggle room here, and I suggest learning to use each option separately. After a bit of experimentation, you will then know which lighting is best for achieving the desired results. Plus, you’ll learn how to make harsh lighting work for your smartphone photos.

6. Adjust the portrait exposure

Although you have access to some unique features in Portrait mode, you should still consider using others that are available in regular camera mode. In addition to changing the lighting of the portrait, you can adjust the exposure, for example.

Simply drag the slider up or down according to your preference. You’ll get better results if you get a basic understanding of smartphone photography.

While your phone’s normal camera mode is very versatile, Portrait mode can help you take your photography to the next level. From understanding how lighting works to careful aperture, simple steps will go a long way to getting better and more creative images.