From the course: Learning Cinematography: 1 Narrative Fundamentals
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The aesthetics of depth of field
From the course: Learning Cinematography: 1 Narrative Fundamentals
The aesthetics of depth of field
- Fine control of depth of field gives the cinematographer not only a technical tool, but also a greater aesthetic control of the image. If you look carefully at this painting by Gustave Caillebotte called "View From A Balcony," you will see that not everything in the frame is equally sharp. The buildings in the background are lower in contrast than the wrought iron railing in the foreground. You can see that maybe there's some aerial diffusion raising the black level in the background, but mind you, this is not a photograph. The loss of sharpness is painted in. The painter found it compositionally useful. This increased contrast in the foreground calls the eye forward and separates it from the street below. Caillebotte was a photographer, so he was familiar with the optics effects of lenses. This had an effect on his work as a painter. The softness, caused by the optical property of depth of field is compositionally useful. It allows the cinematographer to tell the audience what in…
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