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Spielberg sees the world in 21 mm
Infinite depth of field has a role in photography.
I love shallow depth of field. It is the main reason I overpaid for a 50mm/ f1.4 ASPH objective. “Out-of-focus background establishes the subject” is a tried and true stylistic tool. So, I was surprised to learn that many of Steven Spielberg’s most iconic movies were shot with a 21 mm wide-angle objective set to almost infinite depth of field. Why would he do this?
A wide-angle lens sucks you into the scene, or in case of a movie into the action. Add some leading lines and a lower-than-eye-level stance, as above, and you create a vortex into which the viewer tumbles. Instinctively, we want to lean back or run into the scene as fast as we possibly can.
Spielberg enhances this effect by allowing Indie to run away from the camera. Spielberg enhances this effect by placing the story in grand vistas. David Lean in Lawrence of Arabia did this to perfection, as well. The 2012 4K remastered version of Lawrence of Arabia is the one and only movie I bought on AppleTV at full price — to look at the landscape shots.
A wide-angle lens does not record a natural perspective.
The distortion of a 21 mm lens can be pleasing as it engages a deeper, interpretative mode of…
