Hellobee Boards

One other thought. Practice using Focus/Exposure lock for when you need to take a picture of a fleeting moment or when you have lights in the background like Christmas lights. To do this on an iPhone, tap and hold on your subject and it will lock the exposure and focus so that the phone will take the photo the instant you press the shutter button. This is especially useful in low light when focus tends to hunt around before it locks on.

@T.H.O.U.: The Focus lock is a true lock, so it will set the focus and keep it there. So if the subject moves toward or away from you it might lose focus. I'd only use it in difficult lighting situations such as a backlit subject or if you can be sure the subject will stay still. The brightness adjustment is useful when there is a large amount of light contrast in the shot and you have a specific thing you'd like to expose the shot for. If you subject is too dark, you can slide your finger up and it will lighten the shot. You can often do the same thing after the fact using the photo editing functions in the Photos app so I don't use it very often.

A mini tripod would be good for low light - minimize any shake. I'm not sure the iPhone can really do good bokeh, I don't think the aperture goes small enough.

You can manually throw the focus with Manual Camera app, but the iPhone has a deep depth of field, so it will throw it all out of focus. If you want the shallow depth of field (blurry background) you either need to have your subject SUPER close to you, or use another kind of camera that can open the aperture up. A great camera app for lowlight is CortexCam, but you have to be VERY still, or use a tripod because it takes a long exposure and drastically reduces the noise.