Shot size is how far the camera is from the subject. Far away, you see the person's relationship to their surroundings; up close, you see the emotion on their face. Change the distance and you change what the audience feels.

From far to near, there are five common sizes: wide shot (the person is tiny, the focus is the environment), full shot (the whole body is in frame), medium shot (waist up, most like everyday conversation), close-up (chest up, you can read the expression), and extreme close-up (a face or a single detail — the strongest emotion). (The industry actually has finer gradations; these are the five most common.)

Shot size is not simply about making a person look large or small; it directs attention to emotion, relationships, or setting. In *Citizen Kane*, deep-focus photography works with deep wide and medium-long compositions so people and space remain clear across the frame, allowing power relations to play out at once. The opening of *The Godfather* slowly pulls back from an extreme close-up to a wider interior composition, placing a private plea within the Don’s controlled, enclosed space. Yasujirō Ozu often used fixed medium-long shots and his low “tatami” camera position; the distance between people and rooms makes everyday life feel restrained and ordered. Choose the shot size by deciding whether viewers should feel intimacy, pressure, or the wider world around a character.

Train your eye in the on-site camera shot types quiz.