{"id":115801,"date":"2018-10-12T09:33:28","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T16:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=115801"},"modified":"2018-10-12T09:34:19","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T16:34:19","slug":"unreal-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/12\/unreal-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Unreal Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photos look best when they look unreal. “Realistic” photos are boring to look at!<\/p>\n

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This is my epiphany:<\/p>\n

\n Why do we like black and white photos, or photos with filters?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Simple:<\/p>\n

\n Photos which look like real life are boring to look at.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is why we like impressionist painting (Claude Monet), abstract art (Piet Mondrian), or cubist art (Picasso). All of them make artwork which looks EXTREMELY DIFFERENT from reality!<\/p>\n

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If we wanted to create factual depictions of real life– we would just shoot photos with no filters. But reality (for most people) is boring!<\/p>\n

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Why do we like blur?<\/h2>\n

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We like blurred pictures, because we do not see the world blurred!<\/p>\n

This is also why we like to watch ‘slow-mo’ videos — because it abstracts reality, and is more interesting to look at!<\/p>\n

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Surreal street photography<\/h2>\n

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Street photography is fun when it is surreal or unreal! When I take a picture of my hand covering the face of my subject– we obviously know that it is my hand over his face, but from a purely pectoral perspective– it looks like his face is my hand!<\/p>\n

Abstract photography<\/h2>\n

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This is why I like to shoot abstract pictures:<\/p>\n

\n I can take common objects or scenes, and make them look surreal — or unreal!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like the picture above, it looks like a crying alien.<\/p>\n

Or this photo looks like the moon:<\/p>\n

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Or this garbage can looks like a frog:<\/p>\n

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What is real?<\/h2>\n

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This is a picture of an advertisement of a woman with an Asahi beer. But the way I shot it– it looks like two (identical) women, that are unreal.<\/p>\n

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Chiaroscuro<\/h2>\n

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Chiaroscuro<\/a>: Clear and obscure pictures are more interesting to look at.<\/p>\n

For example, pictures shot with a flash through clear surfaces (like this picture I shot through a clear umbrella when it was raining in Tokyo):<\/p>\n

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Flash<\/h2>\n

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This is why I love shooting with a flash:<\/p>\n

\n Before I shoot a picture with a flash, I wonder– “What would it look like with a flash?”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For example the above picture I shot with a flash– the photo becomes unreal! You don’t see reality like that — with the reflection off his clothing material.<\/p>\n

Or when you photograph people with a flash, it looks unreal:<\/p>\n

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Or this picture of Cindy with a flash– it becomes unreal, abstracted, and graphical:<\/p>\n

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Made with iPad and the procreate app:<\/p>\n

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Unreal is better!<\/h2>\n

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As a simple guiding point:<\/p>\n

\n Don’t seek to make “realistic” pictures. Instead, make unreal photos.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The more unreal your photos are, the more interesting they will be to look at!<\/p>\n

ERIC<\/p>\n

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Surreal Photography<\/h2>\n

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