Pulling focus
- Thread starter kurt1111
- Start date
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
1) When the distance between the subject and camera changes.
2) When switching the focus from one subject to another subject.
3) When changing focus from a subject to obscurity (close focus most likely) as a transition editing point or as a motivated PoV... (ie, someone is drunk, passing out, dying, etc.)
That's about it.
Maybe I'm confused in regards to the question.
2) When switching the focus from one subject to another subject.
3) When changing focus from a subject to obscurity (close focus most likely) as a transition editing point or as a motivated PoV... (ie, someone is drunk, passing out, dying, etc.)
That's about it.
Maybe I'm confused in regards to the question.
As am I slightly as well. Did you mean what circumstance would motivate the focus pull to drive the story?
Michael Carter
Veteran
Well, essentially you pull focus for every single shot - when you first set the shot up and choose the focal point and range. Then you continue to pull focus if anything changes in the shot that affects the focus, or if you want the focus to change or shift. I don't think there's a "top three".
David G. Smith
Steak Knife Member
Not to be nit-pickey, but I always understood that the term "Pull" meant a change done during a shot; either a focus pull or an iris pull (change in aperture setting during a shot to accommodate changes in lighting).
Skillful focus puling is dang near an art form and a good First AC that has it down pat is worth there weight in gold (or wasted time reshooting, which is the same thing). I have to admit that switching to using prosumer video camcorders many years back, and using the "Push auto focus" button to pull focus, really made me kind of lazy about it. Now that I using a large sensor camera, with manual primes, I am having to re-learn my focus skills. Practice is imperative.
Ryan nailed the reasons for a focus pull.
I think almost everyone in the guerrilla/indie film world had to learn a great deal about pulling focus as soon as the HDSLR thing came to light. Not much pulling with those camcorders, although the sensors were so small there wasn't much pulling necessary (even if it was auto). I remember when I had to pull focus for the first time on a DSLR, nerve racking (ignore the pun!) - now I actually enjoy it.
Michael Solomon
Well-known member
What do you guys use to verify you've nailed focus and are keeping it? Monitors with focus peaking abilities? I have issues where actors won't consistently hit marks we set for them or move too much in close ups etc. Another issue I have is where they move toward the camera. I'll have a starting and an ending focus mark, but the trick is keeping them in focus while they travel. I would love any tips that you guys think would help.
djkarn105
Well-known member
Rehersals and Playback.
Also having proper cine lenses with long throw and proper focus marks helps a lot.
nyvz
Veteran
Ideally a full resolution monitor (has a native resolution equal to your recording format) or some way of seeing your images at 1:1. I've never been a big fan of focus peaking/focus in red, it can be useful in some cases, but is generally useless for verifying critical focus on a monitor that is not full resolution since just because there is red on an edge, it just means it has some level of contrast that the peaking functions threshold thought it was enough to turn it red, but that does not mean it will be acceptably sharp when viewed 1:1 since it could just be the sharpest thing in the scene where everything is a little out of focus or it could just be particularly high contrast.
On RED or 5D/7D and some others, I've actually found aliasing is a great way to verify very sharp if not exactly 1:1 sharp focus. If you get used to spotting aliasing artifacts, it is a great way to see that you are very sharp. Of course that is great for RED where the aliasing is only on the monitoring outputs, but for the 5D/7D you are often stuck with some aliasing artifacts on your footage if you really are in sharp focus, so hopefully it's very small and only visible to your trained eye.
If you do not have the benefit of good viewing conditions and a great monitor or at least one that you can punch into 1:1 on whenever you want, then being confident in your focus is all about being awesome at focuspulling. You can use various cues in the scene or your intimate knowledge of the lens and stop you are using to be sure of focus. In some situations, on closeups a lot of my confidence in having the eyes in focus may be about how slightly out of focus the ears or tip of the nose is falling. That same principle can be used for any situation. If you get used to what your DOF looks like sometimes what is out of focus can tell you a lot about what is in focus or what slight tweak you might need to make to make it more in focus.
That's just my take as someone who was a focuspuller for a couple years mostly for digital productions and on many occasions was asked to pull from a monitor with quite shallow focus and no marks.
Then again when you can get them, tons of rehearsals and actors that can hit marks help a lot too
Michael Solomon
Well-known member
What monitor would you suggest that comes in under $1200? I was looking at the smallhd DP6 but have reservations that 5.6" might be too small.
I often use use focus peaking and magic zoom on my 550D with Magic lantern - it helps me a lot but it is nice to have a full resolution monitor. After a lot of practicing you get the "feel" for focus pulling and then you can pull focus by just looking at the monitor (or if you're awesome: judging the distance and pulling by just watching them film) - this really comes in handy for dolly tracking shots where the actor is moving away and towards the camera by minute distances. So the more practice the better, but you'll often need to retake scenes because you messed up the focus.
Hahaha! I did this a couple of times :shocked:, before I had Magic Lantern.
nyvz
Veteran
I'd definitely recommend the TV logic 5.6" LCD, and if you have $1200 I'd say spend the extra $150 and get the $1350 WP version that has the wfm/vectorscope and hdmi->hd-sdi loop out. I wasn't impressed with the DP6 when I used it recently.
As for 5.6" being too small, it probably is too small if you arent mounting it on a camera or hand holding it, but if you are using it for those purposes, it is ideal. After you use a 1280x800 5.6" LCD you will wonder why people ever mount big heavy 7" or 8" LCDs on a camera.
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
+1
To add:
When I use the TV logic for focus reasons, I usually turn the picture zoom on and center crop. It magnifies pixels and I can see detail much better. Helps me grab the glint in the actors eyes.
The SmallHDs have a very nice resolution that I'm sure would help a lot for pulling. What camera are you using? If it's a DSLR you need to ensure it can output a full HD signal.
Michael Solomon
Well-known member
Currently using a 5DII (so no HD out) though I'm in talks for a partnership stake in a Sony F3
Great. Then you can run a couple of HD screens on-set if you like. You'll also find that those PL mount lenses are a lot more accurate for pulling focus then most DSLR lenses (it's especially bad if you're using more than one brand of lens - you need to get used to each lens' tension).