Beautiful photography, isn’t it? Except these aren’t photos. Welcome to the wonderful world of hyper realist art, where artists use incredible techniques to make photo-realistic paintings so realistic that it seems impossible they were painted by hand.

Yigel Ozeri

(Images via mymodernmet, bitsofteeniness, artlistpro, afewreviews)

Yigel Ozeri is a New York-based artist who loves painting young women, and the only way to tell these aren’t true photographs is by checking out the background, which is just too out of focus for your typical photo.

Stephen Shub

(Images via discoveredartists, frontiernet, discoveredartists, discoveredartists)

Stephen Shub loves cars, and while his paintings concentrate mainly on America’s classic vehicles, he also showcases his skill with intricate paintings of what seems like impossible complexity.

Simon Hennessey

(Images via likecool, thecuriousbrain)

Simon Hennessey concentrates on human faces, one of the most difficult subjects for hyper realist masters to tackle. Humans are hardwired to pick up details of other’s faces, so it’s a testament to Simon’s skill that he’s able to bypass our subconscious and trick it into believing his paintings are real.

Raphaella Spence

(Images via designyoutrust, fineartamerica, recave, zupi)

These images are not postcards from famous locations, they’re hand painted studies by Raphaella Spence, a master painter whose still life subjects are quite larger than most.

Mikel Glass

(Images via 9to6, artisticthings)

Mikel Glass does not always concentrate on the hyper realist aspects of a painting, though some of his works display an ability that puts him in the top tier of this style of artist.

Deborah Rubin

(Images via deborahrubin, artistsnetwork, rmichelson, springfieldmuseums)

Part of the fascination Deborah Rubin’s fans have with her work has to do with the fact that her hyper realist paintings are done using watercolor – a medium not well suited for incredibly accurate paintings.

Davis Cone

(Images via 163, artnet, wfreese, wfreese)

Davis Cones loves to capture every detail of remnants of America’s past. The vintage movie house on main street will be preserved through his paintings long after it’s replaced by a generic pharmacy.

Ron Mueck

(Images via brooklynmuseum, eklektz, rustylime)

Ron Mueck is unique in that his hyper realism is exhibited in sculpture. Imaging walking into a gallery and facing down an oversized human, and being unable to tell (without touching) that they’re fake. It’s a blessing that Ron tends to exaggerate features, or it would be easy to overlook his sculptures as just another person strolling through the gallery.