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Other Portrait Mode, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

A

Alexander.Of.Oz

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 29, 2013
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With all you folks that have been hanging out to get your X's now about to receive them, and us that have our 8's already having had quite the opportunity to use it already, I though it would be good to share your photo's taken using the much hyped "Portrait Mode" beta feature, showing the good, the bad and the ugly results it spits out! Also, post the originals too, so we can see the differences at work.

Here's a few of mine taken over the last couple of days. In most cases it's worked pretty well, but in others, it's been pretty horrendous really. I have deliberately steered away from using people for this, as we already know it's very hit-and-miss in regards to masking hair details well, or even consistently.

First up is a Coke can, which I thought "Portrait Mode" would have given an amazing result for, as there are just hard outlines to deal with, but no! The shape of the can and the straw proved to be a problem here! :eek:

Portrait Mode
IMG_0850.a.jpg


Original
IMG_0850.jpg


An old plough with some rosemary growing through it

Portrait Mode - Natural
IMG_0863.jpg


Portrait Mode - Stage Light Mono
IMG_0863 (1).jpg


The original
IMG_0863 (2).jpg


An iris flower, where it made some odd choices as to what should and shouldn't be in focus!
IMG_0892.jpg


The original, where you can see the crisp and fairly contrasty stem that probably should have been left in focus.
IMG_0892 (1).jpg


An unopened flower spike as it was presented on my 8 Plus with Stage Light Mono used
IMG_0895 (1).jpg


When I opened it in Photos it did this to it!
IMG_0895.jpg


Here's the original
IMG_0895 (2).jpg


Next up some without originals, where it's worked well. :cool:
 
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meboy

meboy

macrumors 6502
Apr 12, 2012
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It mostly looks terrible and unnatural to me not even close to good camera with a good lens.
I have been able to achieve this same effect with a app after the photo is taken for a long time now.
 
yanki01

yanki01

macrumors 68040
Feb 28, 2009
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I think coming from what I can achieve from my DSLR, I know it's a gimmick and not to expect much. I've felt that way since it came out with the 7 and noticed on apples commercials is obviously a lot more edited than what someone will do when taking photos of their cat.

although those who haven't experience DSLR shooting and no need for 3rd party editing apps, it's pretty good to them.
 
akash.nu

akash.nu

macrumors G4
May 26, 2016
10,870
16,998
One of my first ever portraits on the 8Plus. I haven’t edited it at all.

50c8967125f34718e6149807bde35598.jpg


Another here, probably my second or third portrait shot. Again without any editing.

183f1f76a9182223045dcdf676f094cc.jpg
 
narr

narr

macrumors regular
Sep 13, 2012
120
146
I recommend an app called Slør - with this one you can correct and adjust the focus of depth photos after the fact which helps to take a portrait photo from unusable to usable. You can also adjust the intensity of the focus blur („aperture“).
 
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narr

narr

macrumors regular
Sep 13, 2012
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025106CE-1D96-40B1-A291-E643D3332C80.jpeg


I still prefer the natural bokeh when shooting with the wide angle lens, though. :)
 
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meboy

meboy

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Apr 12, 2012
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narr said:
View attachment 727946 View attachment 727945 View attachment 727938 View attachment 727935 View attachment 727930



I like portrait mode. It does not always produce the desired result, but when it does it looks really great.
Click to expand...

They are fairly nice photos but the blur is terrible and obviously fake/processed.

It's hard to say it improves the photo in any positive way at all.
It's extremely distracting.

Someone show some direct sample differences between an aging Fujifilm x100 and the iPhone and it will be very clear.
 
akash.nu

akash.nu

macrumors G4
May 26, 2016
10,870
16,998
meboy said:
They are fairly nice photos but the blur is terrible and obviously fake/processed.

It's hard to say it improves the photo in any positive way at all.
It's extremely distracting.

Someone show some direct sample differences between an aging Fujifilm x100 and the iPhone and it will be very clear.
Click to expand...

What’s wrong with the blur? Most looks absolutely fine to me.
 
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iSayBoourns

iSayBoourns

Suspended
Sep 15, 2017
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OP seems to be on a crusade to just hate on the Portrait Mode (this is not the first place he/she has gone on about this.)

Expects perfection from computational photography when compared to real physics of optics.

Seriously, if you think a computer will know every little strand of hair (to a computer just looks like a very fine, slightly darker pixel) belongs to whatever was in the general area of where you told it to focus. Then you’ll be disappointed for a very, very, very, very long time.

Or using the example of the coke can. How can a computer know that line of black pixels (the straw) belongs to the coke can and should be included. It doesn’t deal with planes of focus like a real large aperture lens does. It just sees pixels and guesses. You can probably take that coke can shy 10 times and have some with the straw in focus and some like yours blurred out.

An iPhone would literally need an aperture of 0.2 on the telephoto lens (at typical working distances one would use at 56mm focal lengths) to properly achieve what the mode is trying to achieve.

Until we have near zero aperture lenses, you will always have to deal with inconsistencies when it’s done via software.
 
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chfilm

chfilm

macrumors 68040
Nov 15, 2012
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jabingla2810 said:
You might want to try taking portraits on people.
Click to expand...
No way, what an outlandish idea :D

I own great professional cameras with full frame sensors and nice lenses, but for all the other occasions when they’re just not around, I love portrait mode on the ip7+
 
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x-evil-x

x-evil-x

macrumors 603
Jul 13, 2008
5,598
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the thing you have to understand is what you're really trying to shoot. If the subject like the bench is one part in focus and it stretches down because the bench is long shaped you won't get a good effect on it.
Same thing with the flags there is no set subject so it won't ever look good with portrait.
Same with the food/coffee images.
Bottles of multiple nuts won't ever look good because too many subjects.
You need one subject not multiple.
It doesn't do well with thin or clear things like straws either.
I find it works good for people and animals in good light.
 
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Kurzadilla

Kurzadilla

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Jul 1, 2016
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Sir Ruben

Sir Ruben

macrumors 68000
Jul 3, 2010
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I love using depth of field when shooting with my DSLR, it can add an awful lot to an image and create some really professional results. I appreciate what Apple are trying to do here, because at the very least, it makes your shots look less like camera phone pictures. Sometimes it will produce impressive results, sometime its will get it wrong. Either way I can see me using this a LOT when my X arrives on Friday.
 
Technarchy

Technarchy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2012
6,753
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Portrait photos is fun!

It produces really dramatic photos that are much better under the right conditions. I like it.
 
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The Game 161

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Dec 15, 2010
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it can be bit buggy with certain pictures but for me it is a great feature to have. The few pics I've tried of it I'm been impressed.
 
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