5 helpful tips from Google will help you take better portrait mode photos

These days, it's rare for a flagship smartphone to arrive without portrait mode.

For the unfamiliar, portrait mode is a camera feature that keeps the subject of the photo in focus and slightly blurs out the background - this is called "bokeh," in photography terms. The feature makes smartphone photos look a lot like those taken with a high-end DSLR.

The iPhone X has this feature, as do the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus. The new Google Pixel 2 has a version of portrait mode on both sizes of the phone, and the new Galaxy Note 8, OnePlus 5, and Essential Phone all have it, too.

Portrait mode is getting so popular these days that Apple and Google have now added it on both the rear and front-facing cameras on their most recent phones, meaning you can now take portrait mode selfies.

While the feature is relatively intuitive, there's more to taking a nice portrait mode photo than pointing you camera at the subject. Thankfully, Google put together a helpful guide for taking great portrait mode photos. While Google's guide is geared toward Pixel 2 users, the tips and tricks apply to all smartphone cameras that have portrait mode.

Here are five of Google's top tips for taking great portrait mode photos: