Surveillance Photography Brief: Shot List, Lighting and Locations

Q: What shots should I get for a Surveillance photo shoot?

For a Surveillance shoot, capture: Portrait shot from a high angle, overhead or elevated, simulating a security camera's viewpoint; Wide environmental shot with surveillance camera domes visible in the ceiling of a public space; Close-up of a CCTV monitor showing a figure in a corridor the screen photographed directly; Night-vision or infrared portrait where the only light is from an IR illuminator, faces rendered in green or monochrome; Long-lens telephoto shot from across a street, the subject unaware, the image grainy and voyeuristic.

Q: Where should I shoot Surveillance photography?

Good locations for Surveillance photography include: Car park with visible CCTV infrastructure, Empty corridor of an institutional building, Public square with visible camera hardware, Basement security room with banks of monitors.

SET

The setup

Shoot briefHD[surveillance  ]00:00:00:00Stop ■
Brief Int(surveillance.BRF)
✎Surveillance
01 LightPractical fluorescent ceiling lights for the institutional setting; switch to IR illumination for the surveillance night-vision aesthetic dedicated IR LEDs produce a fundamentally different quality than simulated green filters
02 WardrobeDeliberately ordinary clothing the surveillance aesthetic is about the unremarkable individual being rendered significant by the act of observation
03 LocationCar park with visible CCTV infrastructure
04 Palette
SetupNoteFinderShotsLightSave

DIR

Director's note

Attach a wide-angle lens to the camera housing of an old dome CCTV camera body and shoot through it the fisheye distortion and the housing's presence in frame provide an authenticity that digital simulation cannot reproduce

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

Viewfinder

Live

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

Standby50mmMeteredf/5.6 · 1/125 · ISO 400

Aperturef/5.6Shutter1/125ISO400White balance5200K

Use your own photo

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 pictureSoft, farEye level

FillHow far into shadow you can seeSoft, farEye level

BackRound at the front, where it is just another fillOffEye level

On the brief

Contact sheet

00 / 12

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

SEQ

Shot list

00 / 05

Tap a pad to mark the frame shot · saved on this device

Portrait shot from a high angle, overhead or elevated, simulating a security camera's viewpointportrait85mm

Wide environmental shot with surveillance camera domes visible in the ceiling of a public spacewide24mm

Close-up of a CCTV monitor showing a figure in a corridor the screen photographed directlydetail100mm

Night-vision or infrared portrait where the only light is from an IR illuminator, faces rendered in green or monochromeportrait85mmlow light

Long-lens telephoto shot from across a street, the subject unaware, the image grainy and voyeuristicsetup50mm

Rolling

Take it to set: all 151 briefs as one PDF · $8

LOC

Locations

Car park with visible CCTV infrastructureEmpty corridor of an institutional buildingPublic square with visible camera hardwareBasement security room with banks of monitors

REF

Explore the aesthetic

Part of the Mystery & Intrigue mood, alongside Surrealism and Dreamcore. Began in the 1990s, on the style timeline.

Style guide Color palette

DOC

About this brief

How do I photograph the Surveillance aesthetic?

Always watched, always watching: the camera as document, record, and threat.

Director's note

What shots should I get for a Surveillance photo shoot?

Leave with every frame on this list.

Shot list

Portrait shot from a high angle, overhead or elevated, simulating a security camera's viewpoint
Wide environmental shot with surveillance camera domes visible in the ceiling of a public space
Close-up of a CCTV monitor showing a figure in a corridor the screen photographed directly
Night-vision or infrared portrait where the only light is from an IR illuminator, faces rendered in green or monochrome
Long-lens telephoto shot from across a street, the subject unaware, the image grainy and voyeuristic

What lighting works for Surveillance photography?

Practical fluorescent ceiling lights for the institutional setting; switch to IR illumination for the surveillance night-vision aesthetic dedicated IR LEDs produce a fundamentally different quality than simulated green filters

Light

Where should I shoot Surveillance photography?

Scout these before anything else.

Locations

Car park with visible CCTV infrastructure
Empty corridor of an institutional building
Public square with visible camera hardware
Basement security room with banks of monitors

What wardrobe works for Surveillance photography?

Deliberately ordinary clothing the surveillance aesthetic is about the unremarkable individual being rendered significant by the act of observation

Wardrobe

Omoro Studio · Creative System

Generate shoot references in the Surveillance style

Omoro reads your visual references and generates images in your exact aesthetic. Build a mood board before the shoot or create composite references for your client.

Join the waitlist