Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Use Selective Focus Mode in Camera App in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

Samsung Galaxy S5 provides the user with the superior camera functionality. It has 16MP rear camera and various advanced features that will allow the user to easily take or edit the photo(if needed) without having to use any third-party app. One of the advanced features available is the selective focus mode. This mode will make the subject in a specific area becomes stand out by blurring the background, make the subject be the most important in the picture.


How to use selective focus mode in Camera app?
Before capturing a photo using selective focus mode, there are some conditions that have to be filled in order to get the best result:

• Place the subject between 10-50cm from the device.
• Make sure the subject and the background have sufficient distance or at least 3 times the distance between the device and the subject. For instance: if you place the subject 15 cm from the device, then the distance between the subject and the background at least 45 cm.
• Avoid the background that can't be distinguished from the subject e.g: shadows or plain-coloured walls
• Make sure to take a photo in a well lit environment and there's no strong light behind the subject so that the device can easily distinguish between the subject and the background.

If all of the conditions above have been filled, now you're ready to take a picture with selective focus mode by using the following steps:

1. Open Camera app.
2. Tap to enable selective focus mode. The icon changes to when it's enabled.
3. Tap the screen where the camera should focus. When the subject is in focus, the focus frame turns green.
4. Tap to take a photo. Since the device needs to take multiple shots, it'd better if you hold the phone as steady as possible until the camera has finished taking pictures.
5. If necessary, you can edit the photo by tapping the photo thumbnail (it's located at the bottom right corner of the screen if you hold the phone horizontally).
6. Tap and then change the focus by selecting from the following options:
• Near focus : select this option to make the subject stands out and blur the background around the subject.
• Far focus : select this option to blur the subject and make the background stands out around the subject.
• Pan focus : select this option to make the subject and the background stand out.
7. If you're satisfied with the changes, tap to save the image.

Since this mode lets you to focus in a specific area and blur the rest, now you can easily create an image with the out-of-focus effect with your phone without having to use any photo editing app. So, have you tried this feature?