The through focus exit wave reconstruction technique uses a series of high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) images to reconstruct the complex electron wavefunction at the exit plane of the specimen. The main advantage of this technique compared to conventional HREM is better interpretable images due to the deblurring of the information. This is in particular valid for surfaces and interfaces, as is shown by examples of exit waves of a (001) surface of NiO, a single slab of (Mo,Co)S-2 on gamma-Al2O3 and the sapphire/CeO2 interface.