New ad shows how this Apple iPhone feature can ruin a friendship

Three women are sitting down when one of them shows off a portrait of her son snapped on her Apple iPhone XR. While looking at the photo, one of the women realizes that her son is the blurred image in the background. "Did you bokeh my child?," she asks. She then asks her friend why she hates her son. The mother holding the iPhone XR tries to explain that she can un-bokeh the child. That is the depth control available on the 2018 iPhone models.

Those sporting an iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR can control the intensity of the blur in the background of portraits shot in Portrait Mode before a picture is snapped, or after the photo is processed. The 30 second ad shows the latter. Using a slider, the so-called bokeh effect can be adjusted, turning the background from a complete blur into a background completely sharp and in focus, or something in between.

Last week, Apple released its first ad in the Depth Control series, which shows how using the feature to produce the maximum blur will really make the subject pop in a portrait. That's because the person in the foreground is sharp and in focus, while the action in the background is blurry and out of focus. The contrast between the two is the key.

It would seem that smartphone manufacturers have taken this bokeh thing as far as it will go. Especially since it can apparently allow a parent to bokeh their kid's friend into a blur, making their own child stand out more in a photograph.