The iPhone 8's new camera mode needs a lot of work
It's an enhancement to last year's Portrait photo mode, which was designed to bring the iPhone's camera closer to a high-end DSLR through software enhancements. Portrait mode's software separates the subject from their surroundings and creates a blurred effect in the background. The new Portrait Lighting mode uses a similar tactic to adjust the lighting effects around the subject.
Portrait Lighting launches in beta on the iPhone 8 Plus on Friday, but even though it's an early version of the software that will improve over time, it's clear that Apple has quite a bit more work to do. In my tests over the last week, I found that Portrait Lighting didn't work well unless real-world lighting conditions were just right. Sometimes, the results were abysmal, like someone had a few too many drinks before attempting to edit a photo in Photoshop. Other times, the photos looked great.
Here are some examples of the different Portrait Lighting effects: