What is Surreal Photography?

Surreal photography uses camera-based techniques to create dreamlike, impossible, or psychologically charged imagery. Photographers working in this tradition employ techniques including multiple exposure, unusual angles, photomontage, digital manipulation, staged scenes, and careful lighting to transform reality into something strange and evocative. Historical practitioners include Man Ray, who invented the rayograph (cameraless photographs), and contemporary artists continue pushing the medium’s surrealist potential. Surreal photography often exploits the camera’s documentary authority to make impossible scenes appear real, creating powerful uncanny effects. The medium intersects with juxtaposition, scale manipulation, and illusion. Explore surreal photography featured on Surrealism Today.