Mind-Altering Images That Are Not What They Appear to Be

If we’ve learned anything in life, it’s that things aren’t always what they seem. This truism is particularly apt when it comes to photographs and digital images. The pictures you’re about to see will bend your mind because none of them are what they appear to be at first glance. From tiny creatures carving out colossal rivers to plains that look like planets, you’re in for a wild ride!

If you only look briefly at this picture, it seems like a lovely green salad with plenty of cheese and dressing on the side. However, once you examine the image in more detail, you see that there’s something else going on entirely. 

Is this a sushi roll or are we just hungry? This little guy is curled up in a blanket but he sure resembles a sushi roll! That white fluffy blanket looks exactly like sushi rice and the black outside surrounding it could be the seaweed.

This tricky picture looks like it was taken through a microscope or macro camera. It appears to be capturing a needle poking through a piece of cloth or, perhaps, a fungal spore erupting from a piece of linen. 

This looks like a trail of lava coming from a volcano. The red and orange colors certainly look hot! But, as is the case with all the photos we’ve seen here today, you need to look twice to see what this photo really is.

At first glance, this looks like a bird’s-eye view of the bends and curves of the Amazon River. However, far from being the longest river in the world, this is actually a minuscule structure. Take a closer look – can you see what’s creating this river-like shape? 

If you ask us, this looks like a pair of tweezers plucking a tiny toy plane from the surface of an orange. Perhaps it’s a zoomed-in image of tweezers picking something up off a Petri dish. Could the plane shape be an optical illusion created by the shadow of the tweezers? 

This picture takes us back to 1999, when the world was terrified of the Y2K bug, and the first Matrix film came out. The green-on-black design looks exactly like the falling text from The Matrix. However, the speck of color at the top of the frame betrays what this really is. 

Finally, a picture that’s relatively easy to decipher. If you were to glance at this ever-so-quickly, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s a Petri dish full of bacteria. However, it doesn’t take much work to see what’s really going on in the dish. 

Have you ever seen a picture that looks like it’s looking back at you? Well, you have now! The image below looks for all the world like a bespectacled being is gazing back at you from the depths of the river. 

This photo is very alarming at first, but don’t worry! It is not as it seems. We thought that this woman’s leg was horrifically injured. The way she’s grabbing onto the chair almost looks like she’s in pain which only adds to the illusion.

This has to be one of our favorites! This dark-haired diver looks like he’s about to take a dip in that crystal blue water. But zoom out for a minute and you’ll see that things are not always how they seem.

You definitely don’t want to take a bite of this glazed donut. It might just bite back! These snakes look way too similar to a tray of tasty treats. Now that you see they’re snakes, they look much less appetizing, right?

This picture is one of the trickiest of the bunch. At first, it looks like Saturn without its rings. However, if you pay close attention, you’ll see that there’s something deceptive going on here. Hint: Imagine this image without the circular shape. 

They say life imitates art. Or is it that art imitates life? We really can’t be sure but this photo must be an example of one of the two. Can you tell the difference between these two images? Look really close.

Feeling low on potassium? You might want to reach for a banana, but this isn’t the one you’re going to want. This is another perfect example of a snake looking almost exactly like something else!

This couple came to a beautiful barn to take some wedding photos, but they probably didn’t plan on them looking like this. We assume the photographer positioned them and wanted to showcase her beautiful dress.

The eyes give these little guys away, but we certainly didn’t think these were frogs when we first looked at the photo. They look perfectly content in their bowls, but they look a little too similar to food!

You can almost smell this freshly baked baguette, can’t you? Psych! This is not baked bread, but instead is a little furry friend who made their way into a plant potter.

It looks like there are thousands of screaming fans with their hands up at a concert, but as we’ve learned you can’t always trust your eyes, especially at a first glance. This photo is not a concert at all.

This abandoned milk cartoon looks like it has a face! The handle could be a nose and the shadows make it appear like there are eyes. Don’t look for too long because it kind of creeps us out! Will it start talking to us?

There’s a lot of weird children’s toys out in the world. And dolls can be especially creepy. We thought this woman was holding one of these weird dolls, but upon closer inspection we realized that is not the case.

Look at those giraffes against the stunning sunset. They really are incredible creatures, aren’t they? It’s amazing to see them grazing around their natural habitat in Africa.

You might have thought this pup had a muzzle on its mouth, but you would be mistaken. The reality of this photo is much more surprising, and much cuter as well. This is a photo of a couple of buds hanging out.

It looks like we’re staring down a tunnel at a train coming towards us. Those headlights look awfully menacing. Maybe that’s because that is not a train at all.

Have you ever seen a log of partially chopped wood? If not, this is exactly what it looks like. But of course it is another optical illusion. This group of meerkats are all huddled and look to be having some sort of meeting.

Look at all those chickens! The driver of this truck must be some kind of farmer. We certainly have never seen a truck bed full of birds. Maybe they’re just going for a joy ride.

In your computer you have something called the motherboard that holds the memory from your device and does a whole host of other things that we don’t really understand. It looks just like this with all the bits and bobs.

Have you ever been to a barbecue restaurant where they have animal heads hung on the wall? It’s not everyone’s favorite decor but it is pretty common in the countryside. This is exactly what an antelope skull looks like.

I have a couch at home that looks just like this. The navy blue leather ripples in this same pattern. But leather isn’t the only thing that created this pattern. Water creates ripples as well.

From this angle, the dog looks like a black hole that opened up in the kitchen. Those sweet eyes are a dead giveaway to the fact that this is really a pup. He looks like he’s patiently waiting to be pet or waiting to be given a treat.

It looks like Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. has a twin and they’re taking a stroll through the park. Or it might be a couple of kids dressed up for Halloween? Nope. Guess again.

There is very little that tastes better than fried up bacon in the morning. Those crispy strips are one of our absolute favorite breakfast foods and honestly they taste good any time of day. But this “bacon” probably wouldn’t taste as yummy.

This huge mountain of ice and snow looks pretty daunting. I’ve never seen an iceberg with two horns popping out of it. And are those nostrils in the middle? This iceberg just happens to be something else entirely.

This is a barrel wave that any surfer would be lucky to ride. It’s the kind of thing they sit on their boards waiting hours for in the middle of the ocean. But, this poses one small problem to any surfer.