Re: A load of balls?

On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 12:25:09 +0100, Dirk Bruere
<dirk.bruere@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rexx Magnus wrote:
On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 07:16:41 GMT, Jackdaw scrawled:


I would have said, water droplets on the lens at first sight, but if
there were non on the following exposures, then that theory is "shot out
of the water". I might try a few shots myself in an appropriate place.
I.e. my sitting room. There used to be the sound of people talking
downstairs in the night.
I wonder if pictures were taken at / or during a "Raising a cone of
power". Hmmm, yup, worth experimenting.


They still could be droplets. Water doesn't take very long to evaporate at
all. As you can guess, I'm always very skeptical about these orb things,
especially when they have programs on tv raving on about them, and it's
obvious that the red glowing thing in the distance is an LED on the camera
that is being shot in a mirror. :)

I've ruled out water droplets or dirt on the lens. There was no rain or
mist when the pics were taken and several were taken in succession but
most did not show orbs. I've also ruled out reflections since some orbs
have a background of dark wood bark and the Hof is almost entirely
composed of non reflective surfaces. The only normal possibility would
appear to be some floating particle caught in the flash, close to the
camera. However, that too seems a bit of a long shot since the most
obvious candidates are flying insects and none were present this time of
year. For now it's a 'dont know'.

Photographing "spirit orbs" was one of the things that was debunked on
"Psychic Secrets Revealed" on Channel 5 a few years ago. A group of
people were sent into a "spooky" house with cameras and told to take
photographs. They ALL had photos with floating orbs in them.

It is an effect caused by digital cameras with flashes. They have
fixed focal lengths, so tiny objects close to the camera appear as out
of focus blurs, in this case dust or other particles in the air
reflecting the camera flash. Another thing about digital cameras is
that they are a lot smaller than film cameras. This means that the
flash is much closer to the lens, instead of on the end of a stick, so
there is no "side" to the flash and the illumination is directly onto
the front of the objects being filmed with no shadow to give
perspective.

Here are a few pages with photos of orbs:

http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/fake/orbs.html

http://www.lioddities.com/ghost/debunked%20main.htm

http://www.castleofspirits.com/orbs.html

http://www.paranormalaustralia.com/ghosthunting/paranormalphotography.html

The "castleofspirits" one shows 2 photographs taken at the same time
and place, one with a digital camera and the other with an SLR.
--
Mike Hubbard <*>
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