Instagram Launched A New Portrait Mode That Will Make Your Photos Look Professional As Heck

Instagram: making people feel like professional photographers since 2010. The app is always finding new ways to help us level up our photog skills, and Focus is the latest addition. What is Instagram Focus? This new camera is going to have you holding more selfie photoshoots than ever before.

By opening the camera within Instagram, you can use Focus to take both video and photo portraits of yourself or others. You'll notice once there's someone in the frame, that person will stay focused, while the background will begin to softly blur. What you end up with is a more polished, high-quality photo or video that will have people begging you to teach them your tricks.

It's super easy to use, too. Just open up Instagram's camera, and next to Superzoom, you'll see Focus. When you're done taking your picture or video, you'll have the option to apply filters, text, or stickers. When your masterpiece is complete, you can add it to your Story or send it to your friends through Instagram direct and make them all incredibly jealous of your mad camera skillz.

Focus is available for iPhone and some Android devices as part of version 39.0. If you thought Instagram was a time-suck before, you haven't seen anything yet.

Behold! Taken with a fancy, $1,000 camera... or a cell phone that was once dropped in the toilet at a dive bar? Who knows?

The journey Instagram has taken from mere photo album to addictive social media app is nothing short of amazing. It's the reason we initially became obsessed with those soap-cutting ASMR videos. It's the reason we have 325 selfies sitting in our camera roll just waiting to be posted. It's the reason we're able to stalk our ex's new girlfriend and know she went to Cabo for spring break and got a new nose piercing.

Not me. A friend.

Of course, Instagram needs to stay fresh and ahead of the curve, if it's going to keep up with and possibly surpass the likes of Snapchat. But no matter what, IG will always hold a special place in many of our hearts. It was here first, it's simple to use, and it makes for excellent entertainment when you're sitting on the can at work avoiding going back to your cubicle because you hate your job.

Instagram has always been the inventive type, but they've been getting even more creative with their camera, as of late. Superzoom arrived to add a dramatic and suspenseful touch to even the most mundane of video clips. Boomerang is funsies just because it makes everything look so silly. Now, Focus is here to throw people off your scent and lead them to believe you hired a pro to follow you around and take your photo when you really took that selfie on the subway next to a smelly guy.

That's not all they've been working on, either. Along with Focus, Instagram is also making it easier to tag friends in your Stories with yet another update. Once you've created a Story, open up the stickers tab, tap on the @mention sticker, and start typing the name of the person you want to tag. Their name will pop up and you'll be able to select it. After that, you can rotate and scale it, and move it wherever you'd like.

IG forever has its finger on the pulse of society, and they answer when we ask for more. Focus is undoubtedly the response to our demand for higher-quality pictures that are pleasing to the eye. And maybe now, I'll look less like a potato in every selfie I take.