Original subtitles

In any given image.

There are multiple layers of depth by shifting the focal point.

We can determine when

and how much detail and visual information we provide to the viewer

when we shoot at a great depth of field.

Everything looks sharp.

We often see this approach in very wide shots

that establish the context of a scene.

As camera sensors improve and get larger

and lenses become faster and faster, shooting

with a shallow depth of field has seen a dramatic increase in popularity.

The beauty of this technique

is that you are able to throw the background of an image out of focus

to force the viewer to hone in on the subject or point of interest.

Because of the cinematic look and diminished need for set design,

this technique has become invaluable in lower budget productions.

We can keep our audience focused on what's important

and transform mundane locations into beautiful background palettes

and avoid extensive set design, setup time and high costs.

It is important to

remember that greater depth of field should not always be avoided,

and it is often essential in establishing a sense of location.

Let's take a look at a sequence shot entirely shallow.

What are we?

We have established that there is a woman chopping wood, but we have not giving

the viewer enough visual information to discern an actual location.

Perhaps we are intentionally concealing their location,

but we need to remember that aside from people who are extremely nearsighted,

this is not how the human eye views the world.

Although we may focus intensely on an object,

we don't lose the ability to discern background detail.

Let's take a look at the same scene with a greater depth of field.

How has this increase

in depth of field affected the way we interpret the scene?

We now see a giant pile of wood behind her.

She's clearly been chopping wood for a very long time.

Often the environment is just as important as the subject.

Think back to some of the classic black and white films of the thirties

and forties.

They were most often film with such incredible depth of field

that objects in the background were just as sharp as the subject.

In the foreground.

Of course, this style of filmmaking is more better suited to fancy studio sets

with very large budgets, as you will need a lot of light to stop down that much.