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Surreal Dreamcore aesthetic photography reference
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Surreal Dreamcore

One impossible thing, photographed as calmly as a landscape

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SET

The setup

Shoot briefHD[surreal dreamc]00:00:00:00Stop ■
Brief Int(surreal-drea.BRF)

Surreal Dreamcore

01 LightLow even daylight about an hour after sunrise, sun behind and slightly to one side, then everything softened. Shoot into light haze or add it: a promist or black promist filter, or real atmosphere from pool steam. Edges should round rather than resolve, and every highlight should bloom into a halo, brightest on chrome rails and the water line. No hard shadow and no studio key. The light has to feel like weather rather than equipment, because the moment it looks staged the calm goes and it becomes an advertisement
02 WardrobeAlmost none. If a figure appears they are small, plain and turned away, dressed in one flat colour so they read as scale rather than as a character with a story
03 LocationSalt flat or dry lakebed with standing water
04 Palette
DIR

Director's note

Nothing in the frame may react to the impossibility. No one looks up, nothing casts a wrong shadow, the water stays flat. The calm is the whole effect: as soon as the picture acknowledges that something is strange it becomes dreamcore, which is anxious, rather than this, which is lucid

All 151 director’s notes, printable: Director’s Briefs, $8 →
VF

Viewfinder

Live

Four controls on the brief's own plate · the meter is real, so you can blow a frame

Surreal Dreamcore reference frame
Standby50mmf/5.6 · 1/125 · ISO 400

Running the list sets the camera for every shot in turn. Load your own photo to light and expose a frame you actually shot.

LGT

Light the set

3 lamps

Drag a lamp and watch the frame above change. The brief's own note is the preset

KeyThe light that makes the pictureMediumEye level
FillHow far into shadow you can seeHard, closeEye level
BackSeparation from the backgroundSoft, farHung high
On the brief
CS

Contact sheet

00 / 12

Nothing on the sheet yet. Set the camera, then take a frame.

SEQ

Shot list

00 / 05

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A single monumental domestic object standing alone on a salt flat, shot from ground level so the horizon cuts low and the sky takes two thirds of the framesetup50mm
The same subject mirrored in a centimetre of standing water, framed so the reflection is the lower half of the compositionsetup50mmthru glass
A freestanding doorway or curtain opening onto a landscape that cannot be behind it, shot square-on with no context either sidewide24mm
Wide shot with the subject small against an empty horizon, scale established only by a distant figure or a set of stepswide24mm
Detail of where the impossible object meets the ground or water, holding the join that the eye wants to checkdetail100mm
Rolling
Take it to set: all 151 briefs as one PDF · $8
LOC

Locations

04
Salt flat or dry lakebed with standing waterShallow tidal flat at slack waterEmpty beach under overcast skyAny unbroken horizon with a mirror surface
REF

Explore the aesthetic

Style guideColor palette
DOC

About this brief

How do I photograph the Surreal Dreamcore aesthetic?

One impossible thing, photographed as calmly as a landscape.

Nothing in the frame may react to the impossibility. No one looks up, nothing casts a wrong shadow, the water stays flat. The calm is the whole effect: as soon as the picture acknowledges that something is strange it becomes dreamcore, which is anxious, rather than this, which is lucid

Director's note

What shots should I get for a Surreal Dreamcore photo shoot?

Leave with every frame on this list.

Shot list

  1. A single monumental domestic object standing alone on a salt flat, shot from ground level so the horizon cuts low and the sky takes two thirds of the frame
  2. The same subject mirrored in a centimetre of standing water, framed so the reflection is the lower half of the composition
  3. A freestanding doorway or curtain opening onto a landscape that cannot be behind it, shot square-on with no context either side
  4. Wide shot with the subject small against an empty horizon, scale established only by a distant figure or a set of steps
  5. Detail of where the impossible object meets the ground or water, holding the join that the eye wants to check
What lighting works for Surreal Dreamcore photography?

Low even daylight about an hour after sunrise, sun behind and slightly to one side, then everything softened. Shoot into light haze or add it: a promist or black promist filter, or real atmosphere from pool steam. Edges should round rather than resolve, and every highlight should bloom into a halo, brightest on chrome rails and the water line. No hard shadow and no studio key. The light has to feel like weather rather than equipment, because the moment it looks staged the calm goes and it becomes an advertisement

Light

Where should I shoot Surreal Dreamcore photography?

Scout these before anything else.

Locations

  1. Salt flat or dry lakebed with standing water
  2. Shallow tidal flat at slack water
  3. Empty beach under overcast sky
  4. Any unbroken horizon with a mirror surface
What wardrobe works for Surreal Dreamcore photography?

Almost none. If a figure appears they are small, plain and turned away, dressed in one flat colour so they read as scale rather than as a character with a story

Wardrobe

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