Re: A load of balls?

Mike Hubbard wrote:
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.

I'm sure that is true, but OTOH one would also expect most of the photos taken within seconds of each other to show them, which they don't. Also, my camera (Fuji Finepix) is more of a 'mini SLR' type than the usual flat digital model. Fiona's camera was of the usual type, but she got her 'orb' outside in daylight.

Anyway, I won't know for sure until I do some tests next time I visit Ormswald.

FFF
Dirk
.

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