Sunday, November 25, 2018

How to Use the Portrait Lens on an iPhone


At our Thanksgiving gathering, I shot some portraits of
Miss Chloe

Surprisingly, these were not taken with my big DSLR camera...
they were taken with my iPhone!

Look at that bokeh!!!!


I finally upgraded my iPhone to the XS-Max this fall,
and I have been playing a lot with the portrait mode
and want to share what I learned.

Starting with the iPhone 7 Plus, all the plus versions have  portrait mode.

To use it, simply click on Portrait
in the camera menu:


The portrait mode will zoom in closer than the photo mode,
so you will need to back up.

You must be between 2 and 8 feet from the subject to use the portrait mode.

If you see this warning,
you need to back up until it disappears:


Once, you're at the correct distance, use your finger to tap on
the screen where you want the phone to focus.

A yellow box will appear and the phone will focus in that location
and intuitively outline the subject to separate it from the background:


Now, take the photo!

Next, go to your photo app 
and click SELECT in the upper right corner,
then click on the portrait photo you just took.


Click EDIT in the top right corner:


Now, for the exciting part!  You can blur the background as much
as you want using this slider:


You can change the aperture from f 1.4-f 16!

Here's f 16 which created very little  background blur:


Slide all the way to the left for f 1.4.
Look how the tree lights turned into amazing blurred bokeh
while the subject is still in focus!


The best part...YOU get to choose which aperture YOU like best!

Here is my final edit of the photo which I liked at f 4.5.

This looks like a photo I took with my DSLR!


The portrait lens allows you to be so much more creative with
your iPhone photos!

This was taken with the regular iphone lens.
The clutter in the background is distracting.


Look at that same photo shot with the portrait lens:


You can have extra fun playing with your portrait mode
placing  your pretty Christmas lights at a distance in the background.



Also try photographing your Christmas tree,
and moving the phone quickly while you take it to create some
fun light effects!


Enjoy your portrait lens this holiday season!

Vintage Val: Pink Christmas


We have been photographing Vintage Val for five years now
and I especially enjoy the Christmas shoots!

This year, it's a PINK Christmas, and as always with Vintage Val,
the vision and props fell into place.

It started with me finding a vintage white Christmas tree at the thrift store.


The tree was pre-lit and I asked at the store if I could plug it in to test the lights.
Several parts of the tree didn't light,
so I got a nice discount and stuffed the tree into my car.

I found pink Christmas lights at Walmart for $5,
and pink wrapping paper and ribbon at Hobby Lobby.

We were all set for Vintage Val to be wrapping Christmas gifts!

Val brought her pup Morty who posed so sweetly, AGAIN!


Here's Vintage Val's Pink Christmas,
(With another gift that came along...)













As I've shared before,
I always get visions for my Vintage Val shoot!

I loved the gift wrapping scene...

but, there was MORE!

While at a thrift store, I found the most gorgeous
vintage pink gown and the visions continued.


My husband bought some pink rose' wine for the shoot
and my blogger friend Terri had a vintage looking wine bottle!

(Check out Terri's great lifestyle blog and her upcoming pink Christmas at
Champagne and Grace.  Her pink Christmas sparked my flow of visions!)


I love how my new gold Christmas garland on my fireplace mantel
reflects in the mirror!  I saw that happening in a vision.





I am always so in AWE at what comes together for our Vintage Val
shoots and the utter beauty of Val!

Look at her in that GOWN!  Perfect fit!

Enjoy every moment of your holiday season and
much love and happiness from me, Val and Morty!

♥♥♥