Out of Focus

The Control of Sharpness

In photography and cinematography, ‘focus’ is the point at which light rays converge through a lens to form a sharp, clearly defined image on the camera’s sensor or film. Anything that is not on this precise ‘plane of focus’ will be rendered as blurry, soft, or ‘out of focus.’ The control of focus is one of the most fundamental and powerful tools a filmmaker has to guide the audience’s attention and convey a story. The state of being ‘out of focus’ can either be a critical technical error or a deliberate and meaningful artistic choice.

A Mistake vs. A Creative Tool

• As a Technical Error: A shot that is unintentionally out of focus (often called ‘soft’) is typically unusable. The responsibility for maintaining focus lies with the First Assistant Camera (1st AC), also known as the ‘focus puller.’ Their highly skilled job is to continuously adjust the lens’s focus ring to keep the subject sharp as either the camera or the subject moves. A missed focus pull at a critical moment can ruin a perfect performance.
• As a Creative Tool: The deliberate use of out-of-focus elements is essential to cinematic language. By using a wide aperture on the lens, a cinematographer can create a ‘shallow depth of field,’ where only a very narrow plane is in focus. This technique is used to isolate a character from their background, forcing the audience to focus on their expression. The aesthetic quality of this out-of-focus blur is known as ‘bokeh.‘

Storytelling Through Focus

Focus can also be used to tell a story directly. A ‘rack focus’ is the act of changing the plane of focus from one subject to another within a single shot, effectively shifting the audience’s attention and signaling a change in the scene’s power dynamic or point of interest. A shot can also be thrown completely out of focus to visually represent a character’s subjective state, such as dizziness, intoxication, confusion, or a dream. A shot that slowly comes into focus can be used to signify a character waking up or a gradual dawning of a difficult realization.