Surrealism is a cultural, artistic, and intellectual movement oriented toward the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative faculties of the "unconscious mind." 

Surrealism is also the attainment of a state different from, "more than", and ultimately "truer" than everyday reality: the "sur-real", or "more than real".

“Surreal images tend to be dreamlike and tap into people’s unconscious. They’re often made of different elements that are put together in unexpected ways.”

Photographer Tina Tryforos

Create a feeling that you’re seeing the image through heightened senses or emotions – throwing sections out of focus.

Combine unrelated objects to create thought-provoking juxtapositions – replacing a person’s head with a bunch of flowers.

Empower objects to do things we generally think impossible – making cars fly or solid objects seem fluid.

Surrealist images almost always contain recognizable elements from real life — human figures, clocks, apples — arranged in strange ways... 

Surreal photography or abstract?

Both surrealism and abstraction were a break from art that was strictly representational, but they have different approaches. Abstract photography uses colors, shapes, textures, and other elements to evoke feelings and ideas. Surrealism also uses recognisable images – but often displays them in an unusual way.

An evocative picture of cubes? Abstract. 

A building made entirely of human hands? Surreal.

Put simply, to juxtapose something is to combine two elements that would not naturally go together. The bigger the difference between the items, the stronger the surreal photo you will create. Some of the most famous surrealist images are juxtapositions.

The photomontage surreal photography technique can also be used to create collage. Collage is the name given when lots of different elements (such as images, graphics, and text) are combined to create a single piece of work.

Though surreal and abstract are different concepts, many surreal photographs use abstract techniques. First generation surrealists had to rely on camera and darkroom mastery to create abstract, distorted images. But modern-day surrealists have a powerful editing suite at their fingertips. 

With Adobe Photoshop you can:

• Tone down distracting color such as bright reds.

• Give muted colors more brightness and punch.

• Colorize a single object in a black and white photo.

• Lighten or darken an area to create contrast.

• Blend multiple colors to create psychedelic effects.

Click the JPG Images on the left!