Rack Focus
A technique that moves the sharp area from one subject to another during a shot, without cutting. A in front is sharp, then the focus moves to B behind, so B turns sharp and A blurs. The camera and field of view stay the same; only the focus changes. Depth of field has to be shallow for the effect to show well.
How it feels
- Shifting attention
- Reveal
- Tension
- Connection
- Focus
When to use it
- Handing attention from an object in front to a person behind
- From a face lost in thought to an important photo on the wall
- Linking a person in hiding and their pursuer in one shot
- Revealing a witness standing behind a clue held in someone’s hand
In the movies
Peking Opera Blues 1986
Yale’s film analysis guide presents it as an example of rack focus linking an activist in hiding and the police hunting him.
Not to be confused with
- Zoom In/Out
- A zoom changes the field of view, so the image grows or shrinks. A rack focus keeps the field of view and moves only the focus.
- Split Diopter
- A split diopter makes front and back sharp at the same time; a rack focus makes them sharp in turn.
- Follow Focus
- Keeping focus on one moving subject as it moves. The subject does not change.
Prompt
rack focus
Static camera, shallow depth of field. Rack focus from the rabbit-masked man in the foreground to the second figure standing behind him.
Try these combinations
Close-up + rack focus: from a face to a photo on the wall
Close-up, slow rack focus from a character's thoughtful face in the foreground to a photograph on the wall behind them
Rack focus + low-key: from a clue to a witness
Close-up of a detective holding a bullet casing, slow rack focus to reveal the anxious face of a witness in the background, low-key lighting