Close up shots unlock emotion in film—if you use the right lens. Learn how focal length, depth of field, and the selection of professional camera hardware like the SIRUI Aurora 85mm f/1.4 lens elevate cinematic storytelling.
If you heard the word “close up shot” for filmmaking, you might already imagine that it’s a still or video shot in close proximity to the camera lens, and that is very much true. These camera shots also happen to be one of the most commonly used techniques in the film industry.
Close-up shots are an effective way to showcase tiny details in tightly framing faces and small gestures. Such scenes are designed to draw the attention of viewers to the otherwise unnoticed details with a psychological effect that an ordinary camera shot won’t be able to do.
Close Up Shot for Details
In movie plots, many scenes are planned to convey emotional cues and create a stronger connection with the audience. These small details for emotional connection are usually micromovements in the lips, eyes, and cheeks captured with special camera bodies and camera lenses. These close-up details impact the audience without words and make the final scene richer and emotionally true.
Close-Up Shots and DoF
Using camera lenses with wider apertures naturally brings a shallow depth of field, adding creamy bokeh behind the subject. This arrangement also retains clear object isolation in the frame, with focus on the subject’s details, and is frequently used to show texture and other physical features to convey emotions in a scene, like tears rolling down or a scene showcasing dilation of the pupils of the eyes.
Using lenses with narrow apertures will keep everything in focus with increased depth of field, which is not required for shots with the subject near the camera lens. Professional filmmakers usually select a mid-telephoto range of camera lenses to find a balance point between the two extreme ranges.
Close-Up Shots = Focal Lengths
All these details are captured with special wide-angle camera lenses that are usually set at 35 mm or less. These lenses make these near shots more detailed with exaggeration of facial parts like the nose and forehead.
This focal length often distorts the facial expressions, which can feel a little unnatural in emotional scenes. Camera lenses between 85 mm and 135 mm (mid-telephoto range) are more commonly used for close-ups with flattering and natural perspectives.
Best Focal Length for Close Up Shots
The sweet spot for shooting a close-up shot is with the camera lens, which is tuned at 85 mm focal length. This number is also taken as a gold standard for portraits and works well for such close-proximity scenes. This is because this focal length effectively mimics true-to-life magnification, which one would get from their eyes without too much distortion.
With this focal length, you will get a close-up shot resembling how our eyes perceive faces at conversational distances. The final result is more real without distortion, which much lower focal lengths tend to have, and a scene with clear background separation, while still being flexible enough for wider or tighter final crops.
Best Camera Lens for Close Up Shots in 2025
A cinematographer would want to have a camera lens that can shoot maximum details at 85 mm focal length and can also perform with ultra-crisp sharpness even in low light. One such camera hardware is the SIRUI AURORA 85mm F1.4 lens with next-generation optics designed to deliver rich details in close-up shots while retaining natural perspective.
It can do that because the lens is designed with high-tier premium optics and an F1.4 aperture, which shines when paired with a capable full-frame camera. This setup can deliver cinematic-grade shots without any distortion and outputs emotional close-ups, giving the final scenes a lush and genuinely professional look.
Camera lenses with similar spec sheets are often prone to softness at the edges of the frame when wide open, but the top-tier optical construction of SIRUI Aurora with premium aspherical lenses, ED glass, and HR glass fixes this common problem.
Wrapping Up:
A typical close up shot made with a mid-telephoto lens is widely used in the filmmaking industry to capture tiny details and convey emotions in the scenes. To capture such shots without softness, the SIRUI AURORA 85mm F1.4 is a highly recommended one to get professional-grade results.
