# Medium close-up

Camera / Shot size / Distance. Checked 2026-10-13.

Puts the attention on the face while the shoulders and chest still show posture.

- Use when: Testimonials, the key line of an interview, a reaction.
- Phrase: medium close-up, framed from mid-chest up, the eyes in the upper third of the frame
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/shot/medium-close-up
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/shot/medium-close-up.json

## Watch out

- Describe the frame spatially (framed from mid-chest up). A ban such as no hands is often ignored. (measured; Director Chair field notes on image prompting)

## Prompts

### Nano Banana Pro

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. Medium close-up, framed from mid-chest up, the eyes in the upper third of the frame.
```

### Nano Banana 2

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. Medium close-up, framed from mid-chest up, the eyes in the upper third of the frame.
```

### GPT Image 2.5

```
A photograph of [your subject] in [your setting].
People and framing: medium close-up, framed from mid-chest up, the eyes in the upper third of the frame
Exclusions: no extra text, no watermark, no logo.
```

### Seedream 5

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. Medium close-up, framed from mid-chest up, the eyes in the upper third of the frame.
```

### Seedance 2.5

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
First frame: medium close-up, framed from mid-chest up, the eyes in the upper third of the frame
Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot
```

### Seedance 2.0

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
First frame: medium close-up, framed from mid-chest up, the eyes in the upper third of the frame
Shot 1: one continuous shot
```

### Kling 3.0

```
[your subject]. The scene is [your setting]. Medium close-up, framed from mid-chest up, the eyes in the upper third of the frame.
```

### Veo 3.1

```
Medium close-up, framed from mid-chest up, the eyes in the upper third of the frame. [your subject] in [your setting]. Framing and subject stay as in the start image.
```

## Look further

- https://shotdeck.com/ : real film examples of this frame size (paid, link only)
- https://flim.ai/ : film, ad and music-video stills of this frame size (free tier, link only)
- https://aicameracontrol.com/ : a free 3D stage that sets this value and writes it into the prompt

## Goes well with

- Medium shot: https://directorchair.ai/shot/medium-shot
- Close-up: https://directorchair.ai/shot/close-up

## Source

Own words, from the first Director Chair spec and Director Chair field notes on video prompting; pitfalls from the sources named per pitfall

Text CC BY 4.0, Director Chair (directorchair.ai). Reference clips and their card texts belong to their makers.