Apple:
Photographers from around the world are capturing stunning photographs on iPhone XS using Portrait mode, taking advantage of its new Depth Control feature that makes it possible to adjust the depth of field to create photos with a sophisticated bokeh effect. An update coming soon brings Depth Control to real-time preview, allowing photographers to change the amount of background blur before the shot is taken.
These images pulled from the #ShotoniPhone tag across social media highlight the enhanced Portrait mode on iPhone XS, showing advanced photography techniques that everyone can use.
Take a look at the photos. Gorgeous. To me, these are as good as any shots I could have shot with a film camera (I am an amateur, but still, great stuff).
I wish Apple would put together a page with lots of sample photos you could play with, sliding a depth slider, trying all the different lighting modes, just to get a sense of all the different possibilities.
Digital has been beating film for some time now. I quit film after my first shoot in the studio with gemstones that have challenging color. Film couldn’t come close to handling the quality I got in 2003 from what now is an obsolete camera.
And some of these photos are indeed very nice. Nothing a real camera couldn’t do better in the subtleties. The portrait mode is still just heavy-handed fake directional lighting. Computational photography might make minimally experienced hobbyists better, but it still can’t beat a good eye.