What does my digital camera's "portrait mode" do?

What does my digital camera's "portrait mode" do?

Mark Comon (Vice President, Paul's Photo, Torrance, CA) gives expert video advice on: What does my digital camera's "landscape mode" do?; What does my digital camera's "night mode" do?; What does my digital camera's "kids and pets" mode do? and more...

Portrait mode is one of my favorite scene modes. In the portrait mode usually denoted by a head or a face on the mode dial on your camera. The camera is going to try to isolate the subject, so for those of you who want the technical talk it gives you a wide lens opening or a wide aperture to blur the background and give you little depth of field, thereby, isolating the subject so the subject stands out from the background, because the background is blurry and the subject is supposed to be clear.