Depth of Field Techniques

Focus and depth of field decide what is sharp and what falls away. Deep focus keeps foreground and background readable in the same beat; shallow focus isolates a face, hand, or prop; rack and pull focus shift attention across the line or the reveal. Depth is a storytelling tool, not only a fashionable bokeh look. Focus marks and timing belong in the shot plan the same way camera moves do. In AI video, naming the focus plane, the aperture feel, and whether a rack is timed to dialogue or action reduces mushy “everything soft” results. Say what must stay sharp at the start and end of the clip. Explore focus and depth techniques with definitions and AI video prompts for optical attention control. Split-focus and deep-staging looks need layered subjects at different distances; name both planes. If only one eye must stay sharp in a close-up, say which eye and keep the rack gentle.

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Rack Focus (Focus Pull)

Rack Focus (Focus Pull)+1 variantA rack focus deliberately transfers sharpness between two distances during a continuous shot while the composition remains stable.

Shallow Focus (Shallow Depth of Field)

Shallow Focus (Shallow Depth of Field)Shallow focus restricts the sharp depth range around a chosen subject while nearer and farther distances become soft.

Deep Focus (Deep Depth of Field)

Deep Focus (Deep Depth of Field)Deep focus keeps a substantial continuous range of distances legibly sharp within one shot.

Bokeh

BokehBokeh describes the character of defocused detail, including highlight shape and transition edges, rather than merely shallow focus.

Split Diopter

Split DiopterA split-field close-up attachment focuses one image region nearer while the uncovered region retains a farther focus distance.