Prompting
Depth of field
Depth of field is how much of a shot is in focus from front to back. A shallow depth of field isolates the subject against a soft background; a deep one keeps the whole scene sharp.
It is set by the aperture on a real camera, and it is the single most reliable cue for whether an image reads as cinematic or as a snapshot. Shallow says portrait, intimacy, attention; deep says landscape, documentary, information.
In generation it is also a useful defence: a soft background has fewer details to get wrong.
On eroq
Three apertures in the director's rack — f/1.4 wide open, f/4 moderate, f/11 deep focus — and the written forms work too. Typing "shallow depth of field", "f/1.4" or "deep focus" in the prompt highlights the phrase and sets the aperture for that render.
Questions
How do I get a blurry background?
Write "shallow depth of field" or "f/1.4" in the prompt, or pick f/1.4 from the aperture rack. Pair it with a close or medium frame — a wide shot has little background separation to give you.
What is deep focus for?
Landscapes, architecture, group scenes and anything where the background is information rather than atmosphere. It is "f/11" or "deep focus" in the prompt.
Does the aperture setting change the price?
No. The rack folds into the prompt server-side and costs nothing; the credit price depends on the engine and the length only.
More prompting terms