Blog Post Five: Depth of Field in Cinematography

Depth of Field in Cinematography

1.) Still images from existing media (film or television)

a.) A still showing how deep it is used to convey development 

b.) A still showing how shallow is used to convey character

c.) A still showing how soft is used to convey character

2.) Stills I have created

a.) A still showing how deep it is used to convey development

b.) A still showing how shallow is used to convey character.

c.) A still showing how soft is used to convey character

3.) A major challenge that I faced while creating this was still using the soft depth of field. When choosing the film still, it took me about 15 minutes, and that was after watching videos on how to achieve a soft depth of field in cinema. When showing soft from stills I have personally created, making sure it looked "dreamlike" while also making sure to be able to make out details was a tough part of this photo experiment. I had to keep making the layer of Vaseline thinner because the thicker it was, the harder it became to see any of the characters. For creating the deep focus shot, I had difficulties making sure my phone did not automatically blur the background, which was a simple but tedious fix. But even after fixing it, my camera kept reverting to what it was originally doing, so I had to resort to using my mother's phone. For shallow shots at first, it ended up making the main subject much darker than I wanted, so I ended up having to change the levels of light to make it look much better than the first picture I took. While I experienced lots of difficulties with the soft focus the reviewing classmates' work, rewatching the videos to get a better understanding, and asking some of my classmates in person, I got over this issue, making the shot look much better (not perfect, but improved). I got to experience lots of different camera techniques while creating my photo experiment, while exploring the different depths of field. I had to use it now, I understand what each of them means (hands-on activities stick better in my brain)