How to Use Depth of Field in Video

A workflow taught by Adobe Certified Instructors at Adobe Video World.

Depth of field — how much of your image is in focus — is one of the most powerful tools for a cinematic look. A shallow depth of field with a blurred background isolates your subject beautifully. Understanding what controls it lets you use it creatively. This guide covers depth of field and how to achieve the look you want.

What Depth of Field Is

Depth of field is the range of distance in your shot that appears acceptably sharp. A shallow depth of field keeps only the subject in focus with a blurred background, while a deep depth of field keeps everything sharp.

This range dramatically affects the look and feel of your footage. Shallow depth of field creates the cinematic, subject-isolating look many creators want, while deep depth of field suits landscapes and scenes where everything should be clear.

Why Shallow Depth of Field Looks Cinematic

A shallow depth of field isolates your subject against a soft, blurred background, drawing the eye and creating a professional, filmic look. This separation makes the subject pop and adds a sense of depth and production value.

The creamy, out-of-focus background — with its soft bokeh — is strongly associated with cinema and professional photography. Achieving this look is a common goal, since it instantly elevates footage from flat and amateur to cinematic and polished.

Aperture Controls Depth of Field

The biggest factor is aperture. A wide aperture (a low f-number like f/1.8) creates a shallow depth of field with lots of background blur, while a narrow aperture (a high f-number) keeps more in focus.

Opening up the aperture is the primary way to get that blurred-background look, as our camera settings guide covers. Controlling aperture is the most direct lever on depth of field, so a fast lens with a wide aperture is key to shallow focus.

Focal Length and Distance Matter

Two other factors affect depth of field. A longer focal length (more zoomed in) creates shallower depth of field, and being closer to your subject also reduces it, while distance from the background increases the blur.

Combining a wide aperture, a longer lens, a close subject, and a distant background maximizes the shallow-focus effect. Understanding how these factors interact, covered further in our lenses guide, lets you control depth of field precisely.

Create a Blurred Background

To get a strongly blurred background, combine the factors: open your aperture wide, use a longer focal length if possible, get reasonably close to your subject, and place them well in front of the background.

This combination throws the background out of focus while keeping your subject sharp. The greater the distance between subject and background, the more pronounced the blur, so positioning your subject away from the backdrop enhances the effect.

Keep Focus on the Subject

Shallow depth of field has a trade-off: focus becomes critical, since the in-focus range is narrow. Nailing focus on your subject’s eyes, and maintaining it if they move, is essential, or the shot is ruined by a soft subject.

This is why shallow focus requires careful focusing and sometimes a focus puller. Using focus aids like peaking, and pulling focus deliberately, ensures your subject stays sharp, which matters more the shallower your depth of field is.

When to Use Deep Depth of Field

Shallow isn’t always right. A deep depth of field, keeping everything sharp, suits landscapes, establishing shots, and scenes where the whole frame matters, like showing an environment or multiple subjects at different distances.

Choosing depth of field for the shot’s needs is what matters. Use shallow focus to isolate and add cinematic flair, and deep focus when the entire scene should be clear, matching the technique to the story rather than always defaulting to one.

Fake Depth of Field in Post

If you can’t achieve enough blur in camera, you can fake shallow depth of field in editing. Blurring the background while keeping the subject sharp, using our blur effects, simulates the look, though in-camera depth of field is always more convincing.

This post technique is a useful fallback, especially with footage shot deep. Combining a realistic lens blur with a mask to protect the subject can approximate shallow focus, but getting it right in camera remains the gold standard.

Depth of Field Best Practices

• Open the aperture wide for a shallow, cinematic look.
• Use a longer lens, close subject, and distant background for more blur.
• Nail focus on the subject, as the in-focus range is narrow.
• Use deep depth of field when the whole scene matters.

Common Depth of Field Mistakes

• Missing focus with a shallow depth of field, leaving a soft subject.
• Using shallow focus where deep focus was needed.
• Subject too close to the background to blur it.
• Faking depth of field unconvincingly in post.

A Real Depth-of-Field Example

Imagine filming an interview in a cluttered office. You put a fast 85mm lens on the camera, open the aperture to f/2, seat the subject several feet in front of the background, and pull focus precisely onto their eyes. The distracting clutter melts into soft, creamy bokeh, and the subject pops off the frame with a cinematic, professional polish.

Because you combined a wide aperture, a longer lens, and good subject-to-background distance, the shallow depth of field does exactly what you wanted — isolating the person and hiding the messy room. That deliberate stacking of factors is how filmmakers control depth of field to direct the eye and elevate ordinary locations.

Balance Depth of Field with Focus Reliability

Very shallow depth of field looks beautiful but carries real risk, because the razor-thin focus plane is easy to miss, especially with a moving subject. Stopping down slightly — say from f/1.4 to f/2.8 — gives you a more forgiving focus margin while still keeping a pleasing background blur, a trade many professionals make for reliability.

Knowing when to prioritize the dreamiest blur versus a safely sharp subject is part of the craft, and it depends on the shot and your focusing setup. Pairing sensible aperture choices with the focusing aids and technique in our camera settings guide lets you get the cinematic look without ruining takes on missed focus.

Key Takeaways

• Depth of field is how much of the image is in focus.
• Shallow depth of field isolates the subject cinematically.
• Aperture, focal length, and distance control it.
• Nail focus with shallow depth, and use deep focus when needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get a blurred background in video?

Open your aperture wide (a low f-number like f/1.8), use a longer focal length, get reasonably close to your subject, and place them well in front of the background. These combine to create a shallow depth of field with a blurred background.

What controls depth of field?

Aperture is the biggest factor — a wide aperture gives shallow depth of field. Focal length (longer is shallower), distance to the subject (closer is shallower), and distance to the background also affect it.

Why is my subject out of focus with shallow depth of field?

Shallow depth of field has a narrow in-focus range, so focus is critical. Nail focus on the subject’s eyes and maintain it if they move, using focus aids like peaking. The shallower the depth, the more precise your focus must be.

Sources: Wikipedia’s article on depth of field.