Apple posts two video tutorials for Portrait Lighting on iPhone 8 Plus
Apple on Tuesday added two video tutorials to YouTube, guiding people through the Portrait Lighting mode on the iPhone 8 Plus.
The first takes users through setting a Lighting mode when taking an original photo, while the second covers applying the same effects to a previously shot Portrait. Both clips are less than a minute long.
Portrait Lighting is available on both the 8 Plus and the upcoming iPhone X, both of which have the necessary dual cameras for Portrait shooting. The Lighting mode uses machine learning to process the subject and the background, then apply one of several different schemes: Natural Light, Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, or Stage Light Mono (black and white).
The option doesn't appear likely to come to the iPhone 7 Plus, despite that phone being released just last year and likewise having twin cameras. Apple may feel the phone's A10 processor isn't fast enough to render lighting quickly.
iPhone X preorders will start Friday at 12:01 a.m. Pacific, 3:01 a.m. Eastern, ahead of a Nov. 3 ship date.
The first takes users through setting a Lighting mode when taking an original photo, while the second covers applying the same effects to a previously shot Portrait. Both clips are less than a minute long.
Portrait Lighting is available on both the 8 Plus and the upcoming iPhone X, both of which have the necessary dual cameras for Portrait shooting. The Lighting mode uses machine learning to process the subject and the background, then apply one of several different schemes: Natural Light, Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, or Stage Light Mono (black and white).
The option doesn't appear likely to come to the iPhone 7 Plus, despite that phone being released just last year and likewise having twin cameras. Apple may feel the phone's A10 processor isn't fast enough to render lighting quickly.
iPhone X preorders will start Friday at 12:01 a.m. Pacific, 3:01 a.m. Eastern, ahead of a Nov. 3 ship date.
Comments
It would be really nice if Apple were to work with a camera maker and come out with a great dedicated camera in the Prosumer end of the market. Imagine what could be done with Apple’s engineering and a great lens set with a larger sensor.
Well yes, it is just a snapshot camera. And in the chasis of a smartphone that's all it will ever be -- and never a true replacement for the use cases specific to SLRs or other larger cameras. That doesn't mean they aren't going to push for the best of what can be done in this form factor, and that now includes more reliance on computational photography techniques.
Personally I don't think Apple will again release stand-alone digital cameras. Why? Because I don't think I'd want to buy one again.
Apple is incorporating excellent photography options (hardware and software) for 99.99% of the use cases.
What would probably make many more people happy would be for them to find a way to increase the optical zoom range in the same form factor. Don't even know if it's physically possible, but it would be nice.
Trend of the time is shoot and share; and that’s one of the reason why dedicated cameras has no appeal to great number of people. Camera makers are still stuck in film era workflow: shoot, offload pics to a laptop/desktop, process pics, then share/print. Camera phones streamlined that on a single device.
Camera phones are very capable camera with limitations, pros and cons like any other camera.
They could have directional filters so that the background can be darkened around the subject without removing the background completely:
People would tap the value they are adjusting and then slide across the image to adjust it. Sliding the luminance of the background to zero would be like the stage light. There can be oval shapes that get pinched to adjust the falloff of the foreground light. This would allow people to create their own presets too so they can have a unique looking filter that works best for their own images.
3rd party apps will be doing this with the depth API so users will get the functionality anyway but having it in the default photos app saves hunting for a 3rd party app that does it well.
What I didn't miss was that you see it that way, which is concerning. Diversity is a beautiful thing. It's the new "normal", and you seem to have a problem with it. Am I wrong?
I applaud Apple's continued innovation in the area of creative photography, while keeping the interface simple to use.