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The phrase “34 of the finest surreal photographers and image manipulators of Instagram” points readers toward an artist-discovery list, but the original March 2023 article cannot currently be verified in full. Rather than inventing a definitive roster, this guide explains the visual approaches behind Instagram surrealism and introduces documented artists whose work shows how widely the genre can vary.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Rodney Smith: Photography between Real and Surreal | $32.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Surreal Photography: Creating The Impossible | $32.86 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Sixties Surreal | $30.92 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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The Rainbow Atlas: A Guide to the World's 500 Most Colorful Places | $14.44 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington | $20.97 | Buy on Amazon |
What the “34” title does—and does not—establish
The title refers to a March 2023 Technorapper article. Its page was unavailable for verification, so the complete 34-name roster, ordering and descriptions should not be treated as confirmed here. The number is a list size, not a statistic about surreal photography or a canonical count of leading artists.
Two separate sources provide useful, documented examples. ExpertPhotography’s guide, updated August 4, 2026, profiles a different group of photo-manipulation artists. PRINT Magazine’s September 10, 2021 feature selects five surreal artists: Zeren Badar, Murat Yıldırım, Lena Krashevka, Dasha Pears and Evgeniy Shvets. Those selections should not be merged into the unverified Technorapper roster.
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How Instagram surrealists construct an impossible image
Surreal photography is a result, not one mandatory workflow. The artists below demonstrate several distinct construction methods.
| Approach | How it works | What to look for in an artist’s feed |
|---|---|---|
| In-camera decisions | Lighting, timing, perspective, lenses or filters create strangeness during the shoot. | Unusual viewpoints, optical effects and images that need little visible editing. |
| Staged photography | Props, sets, costumes or self-portraiture make an impossible scene physically. | Repeated objects, theatrical spaces and deliberate performances. |
| Collage and compositing | Several photographs are combined into one scene, often with careful masking and color matching. | Seamless visual joins, impossible scale or a coherent world assembled from separate places. |
| Digital manipulation | Photographs are reshaped, duplicated or transformed with editing and 3D tools. | Altered architecture, folded landscapes and realities that look photographic but cannot exist. |
Subject and mood matter as much as technique. Some artists pursue dreamlike self-discovery; others explore loneliness, fear, humor, material surprise or a documentary-looking impossible world. A useful follow list therefore works best when organized by what an artist is trying to make the viewer feel, not simply by software or camera type.
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Artists and approaches worth exploring
Zeren Badar: familiar portraits interrupted by strange materials
PRINT Magazine describes Badar’s work through images such as a portrait obscured by pastel marshmallows. The appeal comes from the collision between an ordinary portrait subject and an unexpected material intervention. Look for surrealism that begins with a recognizable photographic situation, then disrupts it with color, texture or an object that should not be there.
Dasha Pears: dreamlike images about self-discovery
Pears’ work is described as dreamlike and concerned with self-discovery. Her statement, reproduced by PRINT Magazine, places her influences across historical and contemporary art: “My art is influenced by classical painting, post-impressionism, surrealism, as well as contemporary and modern visual art.” That breadth helps explain why her images can feel painterly without ceasing to be photographs.
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Rank #3
Evgeniy Shvets: collage, photography and a controlled palette
PRINT identifies Shvets as a visual artist, collage maker and photographer, noting the coherent palette across his Instagram posts. This is a useful example of feed-level authorship: color consistency can make separately constructed images feel like chapters in one visual world.
Platon Yurich: conceptual scenes that balance props and manipulation
ExpertPhotography describes Yurich’s conceptual photography as combining props with manipulation to produce seemingly impossible scenarios. His approach is a good fit if you enjoy images that retain the physical specificity of a photograph while bending the logic of the scene.
Anna Maghradze (Invisible Girl): digital collages of interior states
ExpertPhotography describes Maghradze’s digital collages as often being built from two or three photographs. Isolation, loneliness, dreams, hopes and fears recur in the guide’s account of the work. The limited source count is part of the point: a small set of carefully chosen images can carry an entire psychological narrative.
Aydın Büyüktaş: landscapes folded into impossible perspectives
Büyüktaş’s Flatlay series uses aerial landscapes, planning, composites and 3D software to fold familiar places into impossible perspectives. These images reward close inspection: roads, buildings and horizons remain photographically persuasive even as the geography turns physically impossible.
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Erik Johansson: realistic worlds that could never exist
ExpertPhotography describes Johansson’s process as blending multiple photographs into a surreal scene designed to look realistic despite depicting an impossible world. If you prefer illusion over visibly dreamlike styling, this is the relevant branch of surreal image-making: the more convincing the details, the stranger the premise becomes.
The other artists in PRINT Magazine’s 2021 selection
PRINT Magazine’s selected feature also includes Murat Yıldırım and Lena Krashevka, alongside Badar, Pears and Shvets. Because that article is dated September 10, 2021, its descriptions of Instagram activity and exhibitions are historical snapshots rather than guarantees about current posting or exhibition status.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to choose artists to follow
- Start with construction. Decide whether you want staged sets, collage, seamless composites, aerial manipulation or camera-led experiments.
- Choose a mood. Search for feeds centered on humor, wonder, melancholy, self-discovery, isolation or visual unease.
- Check the sequence, not one viral image. A consistent palette, recurring subject or developing world can reveal more than a single spectacular post.
- Look for process when you want to learn. Some artists publish behind-the-scenes images, tutorials or books; others present only finished work.
- Verify the account before following. The documented sources identify artists, but they do not establish that every current Instagram handle, posting schedule or shop remains unchanged.
If you want to make surreal photographs yourself
Begin with one controllable constraint: photograph a prop in a real setting, combine two images with a clear seam, or alter perspective through camera position before adding software. Keeping the construction simple makes the visual idea legible.
For a technique-focused companion, Rikard Rodin’s Surreal Photography: Creating the Impossible covers surreal photographs and explains approaches involving camera phones, lenses, filters and timing. It is an optional learning resource; current stock, edition and retail or affiliate availability were not established, and it is not an endorsement by any artist named here.
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What this roundup can reliably tell you
There is no single “Instagram surrealism” look. Badar’s material interruptions, Pears’ dreamlike self-discovery, Shvets’ palette-led collages, Maghradze’s intimate digital worlds, Büyüktaş’s folded aerial landscapes and Johansson’s realistic impossibilities occupy different points on the same broad spectrum. The title-matched 34-person list remains unverified, so use these documented examples as starting points for exploration rather than as a reconstructed version of that article.
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