Facebook introduces hyper-realistic ‘3D Photos' in its news feed

Now you could add more depth to your iPhone portrait mode shots with Facebook’s new 3D photos feature. Facebook is now rolling out 3D photos feature to your news feed so that one could peek behind to see what’s in the photos. The social networking giant announced the interesting feature at its F8 event in May this year.

“Whether it’s a shot of your pet… or a beautiful spot, you just take a photo in Portrait mode using your compatible dual-lens smartphone, then share as a 3D photo on Facebook where you can scroll, pan and tilt to see the photo in realistic 3D—like you’re looking through a window,” writes Facebook in its blog post.

3D Photos use depth maps stored with Portrait photos taken on iPhones 7+ and above (more phones will work with the feature in the future). For best results, Facebook recommends to keep the subject three or four feet away from the camera, and capture scenes with multiple layers of depth, including things in both the foreground and the background – to really make it pop. In addition to that, contrasting colors and textures make better 3D photos than others, says Facebook.

The desktop, mobile, as well as the Oculus VR headset users, can tap/click and drag or move their head to see the photo’s depth. Addition of 3D photos sounds perfect in the context where Facebook already supports 360-degree photos and videos in its news feed.