So, you took a portrait mode photo on your iPhone. But it isn’t…quite…right: The edges are a little blurry. No worries! There’s a hack for that.
Basically, the trick is super simple — you can edit a portrait mode photo to fix blurry edges. Here’s a TikTok showing how to do it, then we’ll walk through a quick step-by-step process.
OK, so here we go.
1. Take a photo in portrait mode
I mean, duh. Snap a pic in portrait mode then go into your photos folder.
2. Select the photo and click the “edit” button
Then, you find the photo and click edit, which will, predictably, take you into edit mode.
Here’s a bad portrait mode selfie of myself in my sweet new hat and where you’ll find the edit button.
The edit button in the top right corner.
Image: Screenshot: iphone
3. Select the depth control button
In the top left corner of your screen, you’ll find the button to edit the depth or blurriness of the photo. You should see a little symbol that looks like an “f” with a number next to it.
In my case you can see 2.2 right above the photo of my sick new hat. Notice the edges are a bit too blurry. That’s what we’re going to correct.
Notice the edges of the awesome hat are perhaps a little too blurry.
Image: screenshot: iphone
4. Use the slider to select a new depth level
When you hit the depth control button, you’ll get a slider that lets you make adjustments. In simple terms: slide to the left for more blurry, slide to the right for less blurry. I moved my picture to a 10 on the slider to make the edges more crisp.
You can see the difference here. Notice that you can even read “Chincoteague Island” on the hat now.
See how the edges are much more clear now.
Image: Screenshot: iphone
Fun fact: The little f button is just a virtual version of a real camera function. In photography, you’d tweak the aperture size on your camera using a measurement called an f-stop, thus the f on your iPhone.
When you get a setting on the slider you like, just select “done.” Then, bam, you’ve got a better portrait mode photo.