With the rise of digital manipulation that has changed the face of photography, we sometimes forget that, on some level, it has also changed the meaning of a photograph. A photograph once meant truth. After all, it captured what the viewer saw and could only capture what was there. This is not true today or even in the early days of photography. One of the key aspects of surrealist photography, which is to capture emotion, dream, and feeling without worrying about what is true or real, was and still is a powerful tool for those photographers who seek to make art that inspires.
In this article, we will explore surrealist ideas and how we can use them to explore our own creative photography.
What is Surrealism Photography?
Surrealism photography is about the uncanny, about a feeling that can hardly, if at all, be described in words. Photography, often considered the platform for capturing truth, can play upon the viewer’s idea of what is real and a dream. Photographers of the 20s made their statements using double exposures, solarization, and unusual angles. We can do the same with powerful tools that allow layering, painting of light, and image compositing to create a new unreal or even surreal reality.
Characteristics of Surrealist Photos
A couple of approaches stand out when considering how to best approach surrealist photography. The first is to craft a scene that feels dreamlike and unreal. I’m not talking about smoke and fog here – we will get to that. Instead, objects and people are placed in the frame in a way that clashes with what we think of as reality. Take the image above of the man covering his eyes. At first glance, we see nothing unusual, but our subconscious does. This makes us stop and look more consciously at the image, and we find one of the hands is that of a mannequin. Dolls and mannequins have long been the favorite props of surest photographers.
Smoke, mirrors, and distortion are other tools of the surrealist photographer. These allow us to take an otherwise mundane scene and create the uncanny, such as using a fogged lens to partially distort a scene or colored light shone through thick smoke in an office building. These things make us question reality; they are surreal. In the image above, the mirror reflects but also seems to allow us to see through it. Mirrors are often thought of as doors to other worlds; the surreal explores those worlds,
Below we will discuss some specific tips and ideas you can try to get a feel for creating surrealism in your work.
Tips and Ideas for Surrealism Photography
Shoot Through Water
If you’ve ever seen a person standing in a swimming pool, you see that their body proportions are distorted. The part under the water does not seem to match the part above it. We can use this refraction to our advantage, not just in swimming pools! Placing a large glass of water between your camera and your subject can have some truly surrealist results.
Long Exposures
Much like slow motion in filmmaking, long exposures challenge our senses to see the world in a different way. Time is something we are conscious of, and distorting it and laying it bare in your photo can create a surrealist mood. Often combined with other techniques, long exposures can reveal the uncanny by blurring colors and shapes, even forming abstract constructs of the world that resemble some long-forgotten dream.
Digital Photograms
Traditional photograms are made by placing objects on light-sensitive paper and exposing them to light. This created silhouettes, which can be surreal when various shapes and forms are stacked. If you don’t have access to a dark room, you can create a similar effect using a flatbed scanner. Building a still life on the scanning bed could be the new photogram.
Solarization
Solarization was a popular tool of the analog surrealists, and we can achieve similar results today through image manipulation software. This can include color solarization, which has an almost nightmare effect on portraits and landscapes alike.
Distorted Reflections
We’ve already discussed mirrors as portals to the surreal. André Kertész famously used funhouse mirrors to create distorted images that drip with surrealism. Mirrors are a great place to start but remember that most shiny metal objects can cause reflections, and those that are not flat will add distortions. Think about a chrome bumper or a large polished steel ladle on an old car. Look at reflective objects with a new eye and see how they inspire your work.
Get in Close
Macro photography allows us to see tiny things, but this does not make it surreal. That is because, in typical macro work, we just magnify things but do not change their proportion in the frame. This is the close-up I am talking about. Show something from an unconformably close distance, so close that the object is obscured and abstracted, and then you begin to break into the surreal.
Rotate
When I went to art school, we tested our compositions by rotating the images and, in a sense, creating an abstract from what began as a straightforward image. In the photo of the figure in the water, the photographer has simply rotted the image. But not really, this was a well-planned surreal photo; notice the pose makes you think the figure is floating towards the top of the frame. But when we look deeper, we see the bubbles and know the image is rotated; for a second, our minds are forced into the unreal state, the state of the surreal.
Multiple Exposure
Whether done in camera or later via composting, multiple exposure techniques can be a great way to add surrealism to your work. Here, we plan ahead to create images inspired by our unconscious. However, if you are one to experiment with analog photography, reloading a shot roll of film for double exposure can be a way to let fate decide. Like a dream, we often don’t understand why things work together, yet they do.
Pop and Blur
The pop-and-blur technique combines long exposure (blur) with flash (pop). This can result in multi-exposure in a single shutter click. Alternatively, the flash-frozen object may move so quickly as to leave no blur, thus creating a whirlwind of movement halted by a perfectly frozen object.
Light Painting
Light painting involves securing your camera on a tripod and opening the shutter in complete darkness for seconds or even minutes. During this time, you move through the scene with a constant light source, which could be as simple as a flashlight or candle or as elaborate as a purpose-built LED studio light. The light painting may reveal something in the environment or a swirling mass of unconscious creation. Light painting is a great tool in the surrealist photographer’s toolbox.
Think as a Dream
When we create surrealist photos, we attempt to tap into our subconscious. In dreams, things that do not make obvious sense are perfectly normal. While I don’t recommend forcing it, it is a fun exercise to collect some random objects and give them to a portrait subject to hold or manipulate. Have fun, let loose, and see where it takes you.
FAQ: Surrealism Photography
What makes a work surreal work?
What makes a surreal work surreal has as much to do with the final result as with the process used to achieve it. Working from the unconscious and the parts of the mind that do not yield to reason, the surrealist photographer creates a dreamlike image meant to evoke emotion and thought.
When did surrealism start in photography?
In the early 1920s, photographers such as Man Ray and Tabard brought surrealism in photography to the forefront of the movement. At first, these surrealists used darkroom techniques such as solarization and double printing. Double exposures and distorted perspectives also helped the artists push their work in a dreamlike direction.
What are the 3 major aspects of surrealism?
Since surrealists seek to create from the unconscious, surrealist photographers should act spontaneously and attempt to see things from a new and different perspective. They should aim to create images that see things out of context or out of their normal surroundings. Surrealist photographers should act with the purest of creativity and break away from the standard form and expectations of what a proper photograph is.
Conclusion
Whatever type of photography you do, some surrealism might open your mind to new and exciting creative avenues. I believe that most of our creativity comes from the unconscious mind. It is the technique and process that allow us to create what we imagine. That said, it is easy to find ourselves shooting for the process instead of the art. Let your subconscious take charge and see if surrealist photography is for you.
