Along with the introduction of the iPhone X came Portrait Lighting, a photography feature that has been designed to emulate the lighting conditions usually found in a studio environment. These lighting effects, combined with the background-softening depth effect that was introduced with the iPhone 7 Plus, are designed to make shooting professional portraits easier.
Photographer Daniel DeArco put this claim to the test using an iPhone X to compare results with Portrait Lighting to actual studio lighting. DeArco found that side by side, the effects did make for a better photo but were no comparison to a photography studio full of equipment.
The iPhone X’s camera scored 97 on DxOMark this week, only one point before the highest rated camera, the Google Pixl 2. A short film has also recently been filmed entirely with the phone.
Apple has provided tips on how to shoot better photos with Portrait Lighting on the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus via a series of videos on their YouTube channel. You can also see how DeArco’s test worked out by watching the video below.
https://youtu.be/KFN6xYvz8-c