Hack a dramatic portrait mode effect for your ArcGIS Online map

You know how you can crank up the sense of drama and studio photography professionalism by switching over to portrait mode on your phone’s camera? It just looks…cool. The subject is in focus and the peripheral background content is blurry. It’s actually how our eyes and brains work, so it’s pleasing to see in photography.

It’s also pleasing, I’ll add, in cartography. Here’s how you can hack a portrait mode effect for your ArcGIS Online web map, with a sneaky misuse of media layers, and a devious combination of effects and blends.

Ready?

Of course if you zoom out beyond the extent of the media image the illusion breaks. But if you are creating a StoryMap, and are in control of where your reader goes, this is a sure-fire way to dial the drama way way up.

Here’s the resulting ArcGIS Online web map, if you want to check it out and just edit it for your own map. Download my media layer image here.

Here are some more examples…

World Imagery basemap, of the Lake Powell area.

…and New York City…

But you can also mix and match the basemap with the focus layer. For example, here’s an imagery basemap with the Vibrant basemap tiles pulled in as the focus layer.

And here’s one with the spy thriller style Nova basemap tiles as the focus layer.

There’s a lot you can do with this crazy technique. If you give it a go in your story, I hope you share a link to it here in the comments so we can all revel in the drama!

Happy Hacking! Love, John