depth of field

American  

noun

Optics, Photography.

1. the range of distances along the axis of an optical instrument, usually a camera lens, through which an object will produce a relatively distinct image.

---

depth of field British  

noun

1. the range of distance in front of and behind an object focused by an optical instrument, such as a camera or microscope, within which other objects will also appear clear and sharply defined in the resulting image Compare depth of focus

---

Etymology

Origin of depth of field

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

“Things don’t have the same depth of field. When my friend was tying her shoelaces behind me, it was just so loud. Things spatially were being thrown. It was disorienting.”

From Los Angeles Times

I think the breakthroughs that come when working with someone like Jomo is figuring out how that feels, because there’s a difference between knowing where the camera should go and where to look and how it should feel when the camera’s moving, or how the camera should deal with depth of field in relationship to the range of equipment that we can have and how to produce a scene.

From Los Angeles Times

But he also helped Washington adapt the Wilson source material onto a more cinematic canvas and “create a new dimension, suddenly open the depth of field.”

From Los Angeles Times

“It’s always her. And you understand better why Bonnie is such a good friend, how they can really bond together. Without the music, you feel it, of course, because the actresses are so fantastic. But the music, I think, expands it in a deeper way — gives it depth of field.”

From Los Angeles Times

They used a process, called focus stacking, in which similar photos with different focal planes are blended to achieve a more profound depth of field.

From National Geographic