Deep Focus

Filming so that things close to the camera and things far away are all sharp. It means a wide range that looks sharp (depth of field), and it gets easier the more you stop down the aperture (a larger f-number), use a wide lens and add light. The front and back of the frame carry equal weight, so viewers choose for themselves where to look.

Camera position seen from outside. The blue camera, with a wide lens, sits low right behind a small table with a carrot on it. Beyond it stands the bunny, and the buildings are far away.

Camera view. The carrot right in front, the bunny in the middle and the buildings far away are all sharp at once. In the comparison the focus lands only on the bunny, and the carrot and buildings blur.

How it feels

Realism
Sense of space
Observation
Tension
Layered stories

When to use it

Showing a character in front and an event far behind in one shot
Showing action in the foreground and background at the same time, without cutting
Keeping everything sharp in a wide landscape, from the flower in front to distant mountains
Scenes where the space matters as much as the character

In the movies

Citizen Kane (1941) · Source: Movieclips (YouTube) · Original video

Citizen Kane 1941
Cinematographer Gregg Toland wrote that he had to keep a person 60-90 cm from the lens and action 9-12 m behind sharp at the same time. He also describes a scene where a face under 40 cm from the camera, a trophy at arm’s length and men 3.7-5.5 m back are all sharp.
Touch of Evil 1958
Yale’s film analysis guide gives it as an example of deep focus.
Besieged 1998
Yale’s film analysis guide gives it as an example of deep focus.

Not to be confused with

Deep Space: Deep space is about placing people and objects deep, from right in front of the camera to far away; deep focus is about keeping all of it sharp. A deep arrangement with shallow focus is not deep focus.
Split Diopter: A split diopter also makes front and back look sharp together, but the middle is blurred and a dividing line appears in the frame.
Shallow Depth of Field: Shallow depth of field goes the other way: one plane sharp and the rest blurred.

Prompt

Keyword

deep focus

Descriptive

Deep focus, wide-angle lens stopped down. The object in the foreground, the subject in the middle and the buildings far behind are all perfectly sharp.

Try these combinations

Deep focus + landscape: from the flower in front to distant mountains
Landscape scene with deep depth of field, showing sharp detail from the wildflowers in the immediate foreground to the distant mountains
Deep focus + low angle: two stories, front and back
Low-angle deep focus interior, a man close to the camera in the foreground, people arguing in the far doorway, everything in sharp focus