Portrait Mode on iPhone 11 Works With Objects and Pets

Portrait Mode on the new iPhone 11 works with not only human faces, but also objects and pets, according to Apple.

Apple's sample photos of Portrait Mode on the ‌iPhone 11‌
From the iPhone 11 page:

Take portraits to new places. With new kinds of portraits and more lighting controls, the dual cameras in ‌iPhone 11‌ work together to create stunning images. And Portrait mode now works with everything you love to shoot — that includes your best friends, two‑legged or four.

While this was already possible on the iPhone X, iPhone XS, and ‌iPhone XS‌ Max, Portrait Mode on the iPhone XR was only able to detect human faces in Apple's stock Camera app. (A few third-party apps like Halide did manage to enable Portrait Mode for objects and pets on the ‌iPhone XR‌.)

There are also six Portrait Lighting effects available on the ‌iPhone 11‌, including Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono, and High‑Key Mono. This is up from three on the ‌iPhone XR‌: Natural, Studio, and Contour.

Portrait Mode automatically creates a depth-of-field effect known as bokeh, allowing iPhone users to shoot a photo that keeps the subject sharp with a blurred background, while Portrait Lighting applies studio-quality lighting effects like black-and-white stage lighting to the Portrait Mode photos.

To use Portrait Mode, open the Camera app and swipe to Portrait mode. Portrait Lighting effects will appear at the bottom of the viewfinder.

‌iPhone 11‌ is the direct successor to the ‌iPhone XR‌, with features including a dual-lens rear camera system with Ultra Wide and Night modes, faster A13 Bionic chip, improved water resistance, six new colors, up to one hour longer battery life, Dolby Atmos sound, 802.11ax Wi‑Fi, Gigabit-class LTE, and more.

Related Roundup: iPhone 11

Tags: Portrait Lighting, Portrait Mode

Buyer's Guide: iPhone 11 (Buy Now)

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

69Mustang

9 weeks ago

On XR it was only working for people due to a lack of second camera.

I personally think it was only working for people due to software limitations, not the single lens. Google made it work with 1 lens and machine learning. I think Apple could have done the same thing, but figured it wasn't worth it because 1. desire to sell more flagships and 2. desire to sell more flagships.

Rating: 7 Votes

EugW

9 weeks ago

This is a bit weird because I've been using portrait mode with objects for a long time with my iPhone 7 plus... :confused:

It has some trouble with certain things, like the foam on a glass of beer, and the whiskers on cats, but most of the time it's quite good. :)

Edit: ...or has objects been meant to work on all (earlier) phones with dual lenses for a while now...? ;)

It’s always worked on dual lens cameras. In fact, Portrait Mode was the main selling point of the 7 Plus.

Rating: 3 Votes

Mactendo

9 weeks ago

Yeah, when they said this yesterday I was confused, as I know for a fact I've been taking Portraits of my dogs using Portrait mode since I got an X. Maybe they mean it's optimised to be easier? But I've never had issues

On XR it was only working for people due to a lack of second camera.

Rating: 2 Votes

EugW

9 weeks ago

My iPhone X always did this. Why is this news

The answer has already been posted in this short thread several times.

Rating: 2 Votes

ChrisMoBro

9 weeks ago

Read the second paragraph again.

Rating: 2 Votes

Mr. Donahue

9 weeks ago

On XR it was only working for people due to a lack of second camera.

Nah bro it’s software locked. The XR can do it they just don’t implement it.
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Deliberate software limitation. Quite pathetic of Apple to claim this is hardware limited.

They do this soooo much with so many things. It’s shameful to see so many people not, realize it?

Rating: 1 Votes

Bin Cook

9 weeks ago

Deliberate software limitation. Quite pathetic of Apple to claim this is hardware limited.

Rating: 1 Votes

madKIR

9 weeks ago

All dual lens iPhones support the true bokeh effect:
iPhone 7 Plus
iPhone 8 Plus
iPhone X
iPhone XS
iPhone XS Max

Only one single lens iPhone supports bokeh effect (using software trickery):
iPhone XR

This article is pointing out that while the new iPhone 11 does have a dual lens, people might be wondering if the bokeh effect would be limited since the second lens is ultra wide angle instead of telephoto. Therefore the software limitation of the iPhone XR has been resolved in the 11.

At least I think I’m understanding the point of the article? I don’t know. I can’t keep Apple products straight in my head anymore since sj isn’t there to reign in the product line.

The answer has already been posted in this short thread several times.

All these iPhones achieve Bokeh through software. None of them can support it natively as they don’t have real lens system of bigger cameras. Therefore, you would see artifacts around some objects sometimes when the software miscalculates the effect. The XR was worse in that regard since it had only one camera to rely on, so it was more complicated for the chip to imitate Bokeh.

Rating: 1 Votes

Frantisekj

9 weeks ago

Generally, can not wait for real life tests of 11! :-)

Rating: 1 Votes

EugW

9 weeks ago

Photo below taken from Apple website. Is it me or is the bokeh effect on the building on the left completely broken? Looks weird AF and draws my eye.

Unfortunately, weird effects are a common problem with faked portrait mode. It looks decent on an iPhone screen but once you print them at 5x7 or whatever or zoom them up to fill an iPad screen, they sometimes look crappy.