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The world we live in is absolutely stunning! But it’s clear that we all need a reminder of just how awesome it is from time to time. When you’re stuck in your daily routine, constantly rushing everywhere, you can forget to slow down, look around, and appreciate the beauty that’s around you.

Luckily, there are some fascinating communities on the internet to give you a nudge to do just that. One of them is ‘Woah Dude,’ an online group that has millions of followers from around the globe who share surreal and mesmerizing photos and works of art. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best pics they’ve recently featured, from the sky and nature to architecture and more. Check them out below!

Bored Panda was interested in finding out how we can all take better night sky pictures, as well as how digital editing plays into a photographer’s life, so we got in touch with Ohio-based photographer Dominic Sberna. He was kind enough to share his experience with us. Scroll down for his insights!

#1 My Wife And I Rented A Glass Igloo In North Finland. This Was The View From Our Bed

Image credits: LittleFootDid911

“Photographing the night sky is not as easy as one might think. To take quality photos of the night sky, you really need a tripod to steady your camera. Setting your camera to a longer exposure will capture more stars as the longer the shutter is open, the more information your camera will capture and you’ll see a greater result,” photographer Dominic told Bored Panda.

“However, if you want to focus on a specific constellation in the stars, you might not want a super long exposure. It all depends on what you’re going for. Using the surroundings to add depth to your images is another way to create meaningful and interesting images with the stars,” he said.

“It almost seems commonplace now, but a band of the Milky Way Galaxy rising over a tree (or anything in nature) is always incredible to see. The stars are really amazing and we’re blessed to be able to capture them in a way our cameras allow that our naked eye does not. Making sure you are in a dark area is beneficial to capturing the depth and the beauty of the night sky. I highly recommend this website to find the best dark site closest to you,” he suggested.

#2 View Of The Eclipse From An Airplane

Image credits: xdel

#3 Heavenly Pit, World’s Deepest Sinkhole In China

Image credits: catch22milo

According to Dominic, the digital editing process and the end result is up to the user. “I am an advocate for shooting in the RAW camera format if your camera has the capabilities to do so. Most DSLR cameras will have this capability,” he opened up about his personal approach.

“By shooting in RAW, you give yourself the freedom to correct the exposure later and really fine-tune your images. Now, you should always try to have the correct focus when taking your photo in the first place, but sometimes you don’t have that luxury; a harshly lit situation is a great example,” he said.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again, but as long as you are happy with the results in your photography or art, you can’t go wrong. Staying true to yourself and your vision is the only right way to do things. The potential for a well-crafted image starts with the unedited image and the post-processing half of the photo is the fine tuning where you can really achieve the look you so please. Exposure, contrast, color, and depth are the things to focus on because with those, you can do so much.”

#4 Surreal Puddle In A Parking Garage

Image credits: dickfromaccounting

#5 No Editing, Just Makeup

Image credits: reddit.com

#6 An Unaltered Picture Near The Fires Mendocino County, California

Image credits: d0rkside0fthem00n

Surrealism, which the ‘Woah Dude’ community constantly makes references to, was an artistic and cultural movement that emerged in the early 1920s, from the Dada movement.

In short, surrealism explored the depths of the human mind, hoping to tap into the unconscious mind and people’s dreams and fantasies.

Generally, surrealist works of art feature dream-like imagery where people, environments, and objects are distorted and illogical. It’s jarring. It’s disorientating. It’s… mesmerizing, to say the least.

From our personal perspective, we’re huge fans of Salvador Dalí’s work, and we can remember staring at his work with the melting clocks (‘The Persistence of Memory’) for ages. Other well-known surrealist artists include René Magritte (another fan favorite) and Joan Miró.

#7 Haven’t Seen Anything Like It

Image credits: FittedMallard95

#8 Like A Portal To Another Dimension

Image credits: MattCloudy

#9 Bringing A Son’s Imagination To Life

Image credits: Bartmania

If you’re a photographer or artist who’s new to the craft, you might find it overwhelming and daunting to compete against everyone who’s already established an online presence. The internet is a bit of a double-edged sword here.

On the one hand, it lowers the barrier to entry and gives everyone with a wifi or ethernet connection the ability to share their work with the world.

On the flip side, there’s so much content and information online these days that it feels like whatever you post is being drowned in a sea of everything and anything.

#10 Wisteria Trees In Japan

Image credits: mungoflago

#11 The Skeleton Flower’s Petals Become Transparent When It Rains

Image credits: reddit.com

#12 This Starfish

Image credits: WonkyTelescope

Meanwhile, you also have to consider the impact of generative AI. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a proponent or critic of AI tools, but you can’t deny that the internet has been flooded with low-quality ‘slop’ over the past couple of years. Your social media feed might be barely usable.

And it can make actual photographers and artists frustrated that they have to compete for your attention against all of this. So, the question is, how can you stand out from the crowd?

#13 Dumping Hot Tea At -40c

Image credits: LittleDank

#14 These Bags Of Water Are Statues Made Of Glass. By Dylan Martinez

Image credits: Yare_Daze

#15 A Moss Covered Turtle Shell

Image credits: starstufft

There are no secret shortcuts to going viral. A lot of it is mainly luck. The things that you can control, however, are what you create, what your online presence is like, when you post, and how often you share your content. The key here is to be as authentic and passionate about your craft as you can.

Try to focus on developing your unique style and voice rather than worrying about your (lack of) followers and engagement. Keep it up for a long enough time and you’ll build a community of people around you who genuinely love your work. That’ll require discipline, persistence, and patience in spades. And don’t just create random content because you think it’ll be trendy.

#16 Known As The Highway To Heaven – I-80 In Wyoming

Image credits: gurudeep47

#17 Car Waxing

Image credits: reddit.com

#18 All The Planets Aligned On Their Curve

Image credits: Sir_Wheat_Thins

The ‘Woah Dude’ subreddit is incredibly popular. It was initially created way back in the autumn of 2009. Now, in early 2025, it boasts a jaw-dropping 4.2 million members.

While size definitely isn’t everything, a community so large is typically an indication that the online group is doing something right. In this case, there’s a constant stream of high-quality images that look out of this world.

#19 This Was Drawn With Colored Pencils

Image credits: roadtrip-ne

#20 This Mask From A Fashion Show In Paris

Image credits: commentcontroversial

#21 Non Overlapping Trees

Image credits: Aeogor

According to the team of moderators who run ‘Woah Dude,’ the photos are meant to be mesmerizing, reality-distorting, hypnotic, surreal, absurd, and all-around strange. “Think of the bizarre, erratic, and psychedelic nature of Adult Swim. Or the wondrous, mind-expanding, awe-inspiring nature of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. Or even the reality-distorting, confusing, mind-fucking nature of Eternal Darkness for GameCube. We’re all of that,” the mods explain.

Generally, the photos and images shared by the members of ‘Woah Dude’ feature vivid colors, intense patterns, complex geometry, recursion, fractals, hyperrealism, abstract art, and extreme perspective. Alongside actual photos of nature and space, you’ll find macrophotography, electron micrography, scientific visualizations, and altered reality video clips, as well as art.

#22 This Is Not Photo Shopped

Image credits: RiCriostoir

#23 This Picture Will Fade Away If You Stare At It (May Take A Minute)

Image credits: NightBreeze13

#24 Did An Audible “Woah” After I Saw This View IRL For The First Time

Image credits: teemusphoto

If it’s weird, absurd, or paradoxical, it probably has a place in the group. However, the mods point out that you shouldn’t just post content that literally makes you go, ‘Woah Dude.’ For instance, people with rare talents doing stunts might be cool, but they’re not mesmerizing enough.

#25 I Combined 12 Exposures To Capture The Sun’s Corona During The Total Eclipse. I Did My Best To Capture How The Moment Actually Looked In The Sky

Image credits: navidj

#26 “Shirtception” – My Favorite Gift Every Year From My Brother. We’re Now At Level 5

Image credits: GeorgieWashington

#27 Sendai Daikannon, One Of The Tallest Statues In The World

Image credits: DrFetusRN

There’s a big focus on quality in the sub, which explains why the group has maintained its popularity for such a long time. The members of the community are encouraged to be as descriptive as they can in their post titles.

Meanwhile, if your content can trigger epilepsy or ‘bad vibes,’ you should take the time to note this. Reposts and low-effort posts are to be avoided, as is so-called ‘freebooting.’ In short, everyone’s encouraged to be transparent and credit the original sources.

#28 Long Exposure Thunderstorm In Colorado

Image credits: -N3ptun3-

#29 I Leaned Over The Roof Of A Skyscraper To Capture This Reflection Of NYC

Image credits: navidj

#30 This Is Just A Photograph

Image credits: [deleted]

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the pics we’ve featured here today, Pandas. Which ones caught your attention the most? Were there any that genuinely made you do a double-take? Which ones were so mesmerizing or surreal that you didn’t want to look away? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

If you have a moment, share your thoughts. Meanwhile, feel free to share the most surreal photos you’ve ever taken in the comment section at the very bottom of this post.

#31 24 Hours A Single Photo

Image credits: MrSquirly

#32 Shoreline In Broome, Western Australia

Image credits: reddit.com

#33 This Is A Painting By Leng Jun. His Art Is Considered The Most Realistic In The Whole World

Image credits: velvetpurgatory

#34 Night Sky Petunia

Image credits: [deleted]

#35 Believe It Or Not, This Painting Is Completely Made Off Them Cr*ppy Brushes From Ms Paint. Credit: (Youtube) @christianyoungart

Image credits: Dangerous_Fix_9186

#36 My Mind Has Been Struggling To Process This

Image credits: EndersGame_Reviewer

#37 The Insides Of This Cabbage Look Like A Portal To Another Reality

Image credits: DesperateAsk7091

#38 I’m A Native Mayan Artisan In Mexico, I Made This Wooden Kukulkan Sculpture. (Also Known As Quetzalcoatl) This Artform Is Native In My Country

Image credits: Mexiart

#39 You’ve Seen The Northern Lights So I Thought I’d Show You My View Of The Southern Lights Over The Past Year

Image credits: ThatAstroGuyNZ

#40 Coloured By Nature, By Faye Hallida

Image credits: GallowBoob

#41 Hyper-Realistic Paintings Of Small Town America By Rod Penner

Image credits: Xenomorph02

#42 Gaze Upon All Of Mercury For The First Time Ever

Image credits: treevarg

#43 Photojournalist Here: Photo I Took Last Summer In Downtown Atlanta

Image credits: Significant_Equal_22

#44 Paint The World

Image credits: d*ckfromaccounting

#45 Perfectly Aligned Cloud

Image credits: reddit.com

#46 This Is A Flat Floor

Image credits: Krusader67

#47 Snowy Bridge In Germany

Image credits: MichaelRahmani

#48 Mt. Rainier Casting A Shadow During A Sunset

Image credits: starstufft

#49 This Painting Of Jesus I Saw In A Church

Image credits: rot_goblin

#50 The Way The Road Separates The Color Of The Trees

Image credits: reddit.com

#51 This Camera Effect

Image credits: qperX

#52 Picture I Made That Seems Out Of Focus The Farther Away You Hold It From Your Face! What Do You Guys Think?

Image credits: TrevorShu

#53 My Latest Artwork. Ink And Watercolors

Image credits: dec-art

#54 Never Cease To Amaze

Image credits: Andope

#55 I Am Recreating My Dreams In 3D

Image credits: Objectalone

#56 Aerial View Of New Delhi, India

Image credits: aspiring_dev1

#57 The Light At The End Of The Wave

Image credits: reddit.com

#58 I’ve Been Having Fun Doing Glitchy Makeup Looks Lately

Image credits: hahaohf*ck

#59 Nature’s Color Palette Is Incredible

Image credits: swiet

#60 This Bale Of Hay Looks Like A Hole In The Ground

Image credits: reddit.com

#61 Groovy Sunlight Through The Prismatic Window Film

Image credits: Christianhbk

#62 Hala Fruit

Image credits: PR3DA7oR

#63 Giant Amethyst Geode

Image credits: Keeganxvx

#64 You Liked My Other Mask, Figured I Should Share My More Impressive Art

Image credits: danschaubdesigns

#65 Rice Field Looks Like A Portal To Another Dimension

Image credits: EndersGame_Reviewer

#66 I Just Biked Across The Peruvian Andes

Image credits: donivanberube

#67 This Coca-Cola Can Is Not Red

It is white. This is an example of simultaneous color contrast, a phenomenon that occurs when two adjacent colors influence one another, changing your perception of the colors. The cones in your eyes make it seem like it is pink. Cones give your eyes good color vision but can also play tricks with your brain, hence why from a distance, ie not zoomed in, the color appears pink and why you see the can of Coke as “red” even though there is no red in the image.
Essentially, the way your eyes see color in the first place is by contrasting it with other colors.