Apple’s latest ad for its flagship iPhone 7 Plus handset, “Barbers,” highlights Portrait Mode, an exclusive feature of the device’s dual-camera setup.
The spot features a barbershop taking photos of its customers, printing them in large-format, and then displaying them in its storefront windows and inside on the interior of the shop. When word gets around, the barbers find themselves literally up to their ankles in hair. The ad spot features the song “Fantastic Man” from William Onyeabor.
Earlier this month, Apple released another ad highlighting Portrait Mode, “The City,” which is set in the Chinese city of Shanghai. The ad spots are just the latest in a continuing series of ads promoting Apples products.
Portrait Mode, available on any iPhone 7 Plus running iOS 10.1 or later, allows users to lock onto their main subject, in order to separate it from the background. The iPhone then simulates the popular “bokeh” photographic effect, blurring the background to make the main subject stand out in the photo. Photos captured this way are labeled with the tag, “Depth Effect.”
The Cupertino firm recently released a series of videos, offering tutorials on how to better use the iPhone’s camera, demonstrating various photographic techniques. For many reasons we included this spot in our “best Apple ads of all time” segment.
