How to use Instagram’s all-new Portrait Mode

Instagram’s latest update now comes with a builtin Portrait mode called “Focus”. Here’s how you can activate and use this new Portrait camera mode on your iPhone.

Instagram v40 comes with native Portrait mode

A few weeks back, references to Portrait mode were found in the Android version of Instagram. Instagram’s latest update (v40.0) confirmed this rumor as the app now comes with a native “Focus” mode.

Up until now, Portrait mode was available exclusively for dual-camera models or iPhone X with TrueDepth system.

Instagram

However, Instagram brings the Focus mode to older devices such as iPhone 6 and iPhone SE as well.

Apart from the Focus mode, this update also brings “@Mention” stickers for stories.

What is focus/portrait mode?

Focus or Portrait mode refers to a shooting mode wherein the background is out of focus, which results in an extremely sharp image of the focused object.

This special effect requires special hardware (dual-lens camera) or a high-quality image processing software.

Though this effect now works on older models, these devices can’t outmatch their high-end counterparts.

Here’s how this effect looks like in action.

If you compare Portrait mode shots taken on two different devices, the quality would be better on high-end smartphones like iPhone X.

The reason behind this is that these devices come with a dedicated dual-lens camera, something which is missing on older devices.

Activating Instagram’s Focus mode

Step 1 Open Instagram.

Step 2 Tap the “Camera” icon present at the top-left corner of the display.

Step 3 Scroll to the left until “Focus” mode appears.

Step 4 Press icon appearing above “Focus” to take a Portrait shot. Remember, you must focus on an object for this mode to work. Moreover, the distance between you and the object shouldn’t exceed the defined limit.

This truly is a monumental update because Portrait mode feature is now available for older devices as well.

If you haven’t tried it yet, go and download the latest version from the App Store.

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