iOS 10.1 Beta Enables ‘Bokeh’ Portrait Mode for iPhone 7 Plus

As promised, the newest iOS 10.1 beta takes full advantage of the iPhone 7 Plus’ dual-lens system to create stunning portraits that mimic the shallow depth of field images usually exclusive to higher-end cameras. This effect, which blurs the background and focuses on the foreground subject is known as ‘bokeh’ in photography, and it really clarifies and draws attention to the person or thing that you are shooting.

To enable ‘Portrait Mode’ simply select the option in the native Camera app on your iPhone 7 Plus. The app will even tell you whether you are too close or too far from your subject and whether or not there is enough light for your photo.

According to TechCrunch, ‘Portrait Mode’ uses the 56mm lens captures the image while the wide-angle lens captures data to generate a “9-layer depth map.” Once this visual data is captured, the iPhone’s image processor will apply progressively greater amounts of blur to the layers that are further from the your subject. Even with all this processing going on, your iPhone 7 Plus can snap portraits pretty quickly, within 600 to 650 milliseconds. Early reviews of the function say that it does a great job capturing granular details such as dog’s fur, even though it has some trouble with handling motion and patterns.

‘Portrait Mode’ is still in beta so there are a couple of bugs to work out and fixes to apply, according to Mac Rumors, but when the full iOS 10.1 update is released later in the fall, iPhone 7 Plus owners will find that they have even less reason to lug an extra camera around.