How to blur the background in photos on your iPhone, with or without Portrait Mode

Steven John

Aug 13, 2019, 01:00 IST

How to blur the background in photos on your iPhone, with or without Portrait Mode

Avery Hartmans/Business Insider
You can blur the background in your iPhone photos in several ways.

You can blur the background in photos you take on any iPhone by properly positioning your subject.
Starting with the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus, newer iPhones feature a Portrait Mode that automatically focuses on foreground features, and blurs the background, creating studio-quality images.
Photo-editing apps can help you blur a photo's background even after it has been taken, and without Portrait Mode.
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There's nothing like a perfectly composed picture to capture the essence of a person or moment in time. Often part of that perfect composition is a foreground subject shown in crisp clarity, and a blurred background that frames the subject, enhancing the photo.

Taking a great photo with a blurred background and crisp subject is easy if you're using a professional grade single lens reflex camera with deep zoom capabilities and a fine-tuned focus ring. Taking such images with an iPhone is a bit harder.

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Because iPhone cameras have a large depth of field, getting that blurry background can be a challenge - unless you know these workarounds.

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How to blur the background in photos on an iPhone

Position your subject close to the lens

If you have an older iPhone, or you don't want to use the Portrait mode option on a newer phone, try simply placing the subject of the image within a foot or so of the lens.

Usually, the phone's sensor will be forced to choose between the faraway background and the close-up face (or other object). Tap on your subject (on the screen, not in real life) to focus the camera on them.

Keep shifting a bit closer and farther until the subject comes clear and the background blurs.

Steven John/Business Insider

By properly framing your subject, you can blur any background.

Use the iPhone camera app's built-in Portrait Mode

If you have any of the latest iPhones in the X series (X, XR, XS, or XS Max) or an iPhone 7 or 8 Plus, then you have Portrait Mode.

Open the camera app and swipe right to PORTRAIT, then position your subject within two to eight feet from the lens, making sure the background is at least a dozen or more feet behind the subject.

If you are too close, the camera screen will say, "Move farther away." If the camera can't recognize who you're trying to take a picture of, it will tell you, "No person detected."

Once the words "NATURAL LIGHT" are framed in a yellow box at the bottom of the screen, snap away and enjoy that automatically blurred background.

Steven John/Business Insider

Portrait Mode can take some adjusting, but produces beautiful photos.

Use a third-party app to blur backgrounds

If you have an older iPhone that can't blur backgrounds, or an older image you want to enhance with a blur effect, consider the AfterFocus app.

It can create an artificially blurry background around the focus area you choose in any image, enhancing photos to look as though they were originally shot in studio style.