shallow focus
Subject isolation technique
Shallow focus is a cinematographic technique where only a narrow plane of the image appears sharp while foreground and background remain blurred.
The effect directs viewer attention to specific elements—often a character's face or a significant object—while everything else falls out of focus.
Achieved through wide apertures and longer lenses, shallow focus creates visual separation and emotional intimacy: The shallow focus isolated her expression from the chaos behind her.
- depth of fieldZone of acceptable sharpness
- bokehAesthetic quality of defocus
- blurLack of sharpness
- wide openFully accessible, unrestricted
- apertureAdjustable optical inlet
lens · portrait · portrait mode · f-stop · background · foreground · crisp · soft · buttery smooth · isolation · subject · selective · hazy · dreamy · dream sequence · sharp · cinema · defocus
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