How to take better portraits with your phone
Good phone portraits come down to a few choices made before you press the shutter: the lens, the light, the focus and the background. Here's how to get each one right.
Pick the right lens
Use a 2x or 3x lens and step back, rather than the main camera up close. Shooting a face from close up exaggerates whatever is nearest the lens, so noses look bigger and faces narrower. From a few steps back with a longer lens, faces look the way people expect. Avoid the ultra-wide for portraits: it stretches anything near the edges.
In dim light, the telephoto may struggle. Then the main camera from a little further back, cropped later, can be the better choice. See which phone lens to use.
Find good light
- Window light: stand your subject facing or side-on to a window, out of direct sun. Soft, flattering and free.
- Open shade: outdoors at midday, move into the shade of a building or tree to avoid squinting and hard shadows under the eyes.
- Golden hour: the hour after sunrise and before sunset gives warm, low, gentle light.
- Avoid overhead light: ceiling lamps and midday sun put dark shadows in eye sockets.
Focus on the eyes
Tap on the nearest eye before you shoot. If the eyes are sharp, a slightly soft ear or shoulder doesn't matter; the other way round, the photo fails. With manual focus, focus peaking helps you check.
Watch the background
Look behind your subject before you shoot. Move to avoid poles "growing" out of heads, bright windows that pull the eye, and clutter. Putting distance between subject and background makes it softer and less distracting, even without portrait mode.
Portrait mode and background blur
Phone lenses are too small to blur a background much on their own. Portrait mode fakes it in software, estimating depth and blurring what it thinks is behind the subject. It works well on simple scenes and slips around hair, glasses and edges. Real background blur comes from getting close with a longer lens and keeping the background far away.
Keep skin tones natural
- Turn off beauty or face-smoothing effects if you want real skin texture.
- Strong saturation and heavy filters show on skin first. Gentler colour usually flatters people.
- Under mixed lighting, set white balance so skin isn't orange or green.
In One Camera
One Camera gives you every lens your phone exposes on a zoom ladder, so you can pick the 2x or 3x step directly, plus tap-to-focus and AE/AWB lock in the free version. Among its 18 film looks, Soft is made for portraits and indoor light, and Scorch for strong sun with people in frame. Pro adds manual focus with focus peaking and manual white balance, as a one-time purchase.
Questions
Which phone lens is best for portraits?
A 2x or 3x telephoto from a few steps back. It gives natural-looking faces, while the main or ultra-wide camera up close exaggerates noses and stretches features.
How do I blur the background in phone portraits?
Use portrait mode, which blurs in software, or get real blur by moving closer with a longer lens and putting more distance between your subject and the background.
What is the best light for portraits?
Soft light: a window out of direct sun, open shade outdoors, or golden hour. Avoid overhead light, which puts shadows in the eyes.