| We usually want to keep things in focus, but when everything appears sharp, most scenes begin to look flat. Instead, highlight objects in the foreground by keeping them in focus, and separate them from the background by keeping it soft. When you increase this depth of field, you're more effectively simulating how a viewer's vision works, and subtly influencing what they should see. This works particularly well during interviews or scenes where a character is occupying the frame. To increase depth of field: 1. | Position the camera as far away from your subject as possible. | 2. | Use the camcorder's zooming controls to zoom in close to the subject. | 3. | Set the manual focus so that the subject is clear (Figure 2.11). Figure 2.11. The background is out of focus and less vibrant compared to the foreground, which helps to visually sepa rate the two. |
Tip | | If you're shooting a fixed object where the camera won't move (such as a person being interviewed), use manual focus. Sometimes the motion of the person talking (if they move forward slightly when making a point, for example) will trigger the camera to adjust its automatic focus, causing other elements in the frame to "bounce."
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