In The Night Of, the shallow depth of field not only creates an eerie tone, but it also plays into the detective aspect of the story.

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This will help you keep images appropriately exposed despite having the relatively wide aperture that gives you the shallow look you desire.

Neutral density filters don’t change the angle at which light rays enter the lens. They simply reflect a small amount of light so that your exposure is lowered.

Camera distance can also be referred to as focus distance, because as you move your camera, you are forced to change the position of the focal element within the body of the lens to keep your subject in focus.

Large depth of field is the term used to describe an image that has a deeper field, therefore the region of acceptable sharpness has a lower drop-off rate. This can be used to capture a larger area of acceptably sharp images.

If you’re a director, you always want to understand as much as possible with regard to creative decisions, including depth of field.

If you're going to be filming a long take in your next project, you may want to keep your depth of field as large as you can. Based on the knowledge you just picked up, you may have already determined how you would film a long take.

This can also be referred to as a deep depth of field, and some cinematographers will simply use the term “depth” to describe shots with a large DOF. It can also be referred to as deep focus.

Lens filters can help you control your depth of field in specific instances. This is most useful in those rare moments when you have too much light, but you don’t want to stop down.

This allows a filmmaker to elicit several different emotions from the viewer. Some of these include severity, loneliness, fear, doubt, extreme beauty, heightened senses, and anger.

The larger your camera sensor, the more your depth of field decreases. This is because you are forced to move closer to your subject to fill your frame. You can manipulate your DOF through aperture, and focus distance.

The magnification of the lens not only simulates being closer to the subject, but it also magnifies the actual blurring effect in the unfocused parts of the image.

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That doesn't mean you should buy a camera because it has a smaller sensor, but it is something to keep in mind with regard to governance.

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Low aperture number, (you can fake this by zooming in if your lens doesn’t go below 3.5), lots of space bewteen subject and background, and zoom in (even with a low aperture lens.) Frankly they don’t explain this very well in an article this long and even get some things…wrongish

Selective focus is a technique where a photographer or filmmaker uses an extremely shallow depth of field to isolate a subject.

If you are shooting a scene in particularly harsh, bright light, but you still want to get an image with a shallow depth of field, consider using a neutral-density filter to decrease the light intensity.

Here you see some images that have a very shallow DOF. You'll notice how this focuses your attention to specific areas of the image, and has the ability to elicit desired emotions from the viewer.

You can do this by simply checking the box for DOF on your shot list, and you can mark shallow depth of field, or mark it deep if you need to see imagery that is further back in the frame.

Testing the circle of confusion is a very useful method for lens and camera manufacturers to test focus, because it helps determine when as subject is officially out of focus.

Now that we have a general understanding of depth of field and the various types of a camera focus involved, let's talk specifics. How does depth of field actually work? Here's a quick graphic to get us started.

A shallow depth of field may help with the emotional tone of your image, but it will rarely take you as far as most cinematographers need.

For instance, if you are attempting to film a shot like the one in the video below, you'll want to stay wide, but you also keep a large depth of field.

This spreads the angle to make it wider, which squishes your field closer together, and thus creates a shallower depth of field.

This is used to measure lens precision. Once you’ve calculated the circle of confusion, you can then accurately determine how precise the focus of your lens will be, and paired with the focal length, you can determine the hyperfocal distance of a particular lens.

So, whenever an extremely shallow depth of field is used to capture an image, selective focus is at work. An large amount of light is often needed to achieve selective focus, so keep that in mind.

When you get very near a subject you will notice that your depth of field becomes more shallow. This happens regardless of the focal length of your lens.

They weren't changing lenses or settings, but they used their actors and blocking to create a shot with different layers of depth of field, and achieved a really amazing shot that both isolated information, but also stayed in focus.

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If your subject takes up the same amount of space in the frame, you will have the same depth of field regardless of focal length.

If you were to put a longer lens on your camera, it would magnify your subject, and this creates the same depth of field you would get with a wide lens very near the subject. This is why longer lenses appear to give you shallower DOF.

Ready to capture some seriously cinematic images? Check out this article on How to Make a Shot List Using StudioBinder Software. We show you how to add custom description (like depth of field) to each shot so that you can be as precise with your shots as possible. Take the skills you learned in this article and create something spectacular. Have questions or comments? Have a link that shows off your DOF skills?

Depth of field is a spectrum and provides a number of variations that bring different effects to different shots. It produces many types of camera focus in film. For a complete breakdown of these options, watch our episode of The Shot List that is dedicated to depth of field and camera focus.

Combine the forces that govern depth of field to achieve some really spectacular results. If you’re a cinematographer, you need to understand each of these forces more than anyone on set.

At the very beginning when Henry hands the car keys off to his friend, you'll notice the depth is more shallow. Why? Because the subject was closer to the camera, but as they move through the scene they remain in focus.

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The center most point of the field is known as the point of focus. The imaginary two dimensional plane that extends from that point is known as the plane of focus.

The larger your camera sensor, the more your depth of field decreases. This is because you are forced to move closer to your subject to fill your frame.

Depth of field (DOF) is the term used to describe the size of the area in your image where objects appear acceptably sharp. The area in question is known as the field, and the size (in z-space) of that area is the depth of that field. DOF is governed by the angle at which light rays enter the lens.

Shallow depth of field is the term used to describe an image that has a shorter field distance. Therefore the region of acceptable sharpness is smaller, and has a higher drop-off rate.

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We’re in a golden age of TV writing and development. More and more people are flocking to the small screen to find daily entertainment. So how can you break put from the pack and get your idea onto the small screen? We’re here to help.

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A visual medium requires visual methods. Master the art of visual storytelling with our FREE video series on directing and filmmaking techniques.

SC Lannom is a screenwriter and director living in Los Angeles. He works as a writer, director, and content producer here at StudioBinder.

Howard Hawks, Patty Jenkins, John Waters; all directors with unique styles and tone. Each have profound control over the depth of field in their images.

Consider calculating your depth of field beforehand if you know you're going to film a long take. This may help you pull off some difficult goals.

Objects that falls in between those doors would be acceptably sharp, and any objects that falls outside of those doors would not.

Depth lives along the z-axis, and this is commonly referred to as z-space. So the depth of your phone when held vertically, based on the figures above, would be…

You aren’t actually changing the depth of field by putting a longer lens on your camera, but rather moving your camera closer (without having to get any closer).

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When you increase the diameter of your aperture, you physically change the angle at which light rays may enter the lens.

There are various ways to control you depth of field. Each method has a profound impact on the area of acceptable focus, but combining multiple methods will allow incredible control over your images.

The circle of confusion is the measurement of a point source of light that falls on the focal plane. The diameter of this circle is measured by fractions of millimeters. This light is never truly in focus, which is why size of the circle of confusion is used to determine the quality of a lens. The smallest circle a lens can generate (circle of least confusion) registers a light source in “perfect focus.”

The physical distance of camera-to-subject changes your depth of field for the same reasons as your aperture and focal length.

This squishes the angle to make it thinner, which spreads your field further apart, and thus creates a larger depth of field.

Some of the most beautiful shots have used a shallow depth of field, as well as some of the most disturbing shots (still beautiful in their own way).

Establishing your own visual style should occur before you step on set, and it begins with understanding how to control your depth of field.

It also is a really good way of establishing the value of a lens and its construction, because the smaller the circle of least confusion is, the more precise (possibly expensive) your lens will be.

When you decrease the diameter of your aperture, you physically change the angle at which light rays may enter the lens.

Regardless of the feeling you want to generate, you should make it a point to plan out and shot list the intended depth of field for each shot.