Photograph Anomalies - What causes them?
There are just too many variables and environmental conditions to absolutely say you have captured a ghost or spirit!
Date: 25th April 2020
"We believe in spirits and ghosts and have taken many photos and in every one of them we have captured something. The place is a known haunted location so they must be ghosts!"
Just because a location is 'allegedly' 'known' to be haunted it does not mean that ghosts are always present and waiting to pose for your camera!
First consider what equipment you are using...
This is the key point-of-fact to any alleged claims of capturing ghosts or spirits on images.
Up until the creation of digital technology, supposed spirit orbs, mists and flares were not known of, or at the very least very rarely did anyone ever provide photo proof of anything even closely resembling what is in the mainstream social media of today. This is because old film-type cameras were of the construction that the flash units were bulky on top of the already bulky main camera unit - therefore the flash units were at a fair distance from the camera lens.
Check out some professional photographers who operate from studios... they use modern camera technologies but still use flash brackets and/or flash umbrellas for their lighting because they know that this minimises any form of pollution, including dust particulates, etc. Not to mention they use lighting for effect too.
It also the same with smartphone technology. As one could imagine smartphones are small compact units and as such the LED flash is right next to the camera lens. Needless to say smartphones are the worst piece of equipment to use during an investigation... and not only for the orb pollution they cause in photos but also due to the distractions they cause from text messages and the phone signals causing interference with other investigation equipment (EMF meters and REM Pods, etc.)
In fact... the best way not to capture any form of anomalies are to not use any lighting! If you think you are in the presence of a manifesting ghost/spirit then it should (so they say) generate its own light... you would not need any image-capturing equipment to see it... but you would to try and obtain proof. A catch 22 situation.
So what causes the anomalies in photos?
Well as already stated here, the LED flash being close to the camera lens is what causes the 'anomaly' problem. As a test example, using your nightvision camera or camcorder (with IR illumination on) point it into a mirror or other reflective surface... the resulting glare is being captured by the lens. This is what happens to airborne particles that get illuminated, which gets reflected back to the camera... they glow!
Take out your compact camera or even your smartphone. Now imagine you can see virtual cones coming out from your camera/phone at an angle of around 80 to 90 degrees - one from the lens area and one from the flash...
...at some point the two 'cones' will cross paths and at that point is where the majority of anomalies are captured... and not further away back into a room or down a hallway or corridor, etc.
You see, any airborne particulate will appear as a large anomaly (orb, mist or flare, etc.) if they are captured within a foot (12 inches) of the camera lens and flash where the two cones meet and cross paths. The reason for this is that they get illuminated and due to being very out of focus they are blurry and look large and to a point transparent.
Then the further away any particulate matter is floating or flying they become more clearer for the lens to capture and therefore get smaller as they appear less out of focus.
Top of image
This shows the front of a typical compact camera and its set up. You can see the 'Flash unit' and within an inch or two of it the 'lens'.
Bottom of image
This shows the top-view of the camera. The blue cone represents the 'angle of view' from the lens. The black cone represents the 'angle of flash' emitted from the flash unit...
Where the two cones meet and cross is where most anomalies are captured. The reason for this is that anyone using a camera is not purposely trying to capture anything in this area and definitely not within the first 4 foot of space directly in front of the camera... more often than not they are trying to take a photo of a room, down a long hallway or corridor.
If a dust particle or bug or moisture vapour, etc. is in this cross area close to the lens then it will be out of focus and then get captured onto the image as an 'anomaly'.
Orbs!
There will obviously be many many people out there that will always jump onto the band wagon and shout at someone claiming to have captured a spirit 'orb' on camera that "it is only dust!". This is for a good reason... dust is everywhere. Even if one were to clean one's house thoroughly dusting here and there, wiping down every surface and even vacuuming everywhere and everything, dust will still be present.
Dust is mostly powdered skin, anywhere between 70-80%! It's a fact that we humans shed skin every minute of every day - that is where the majority dust comes from... that and other particulate filaments from clothing, etc. So it stands to reason that any alleged 'orb' caught inside a home is likely to be dust.
Any alleged orb caught outside will most possibly be either pollen or water vapour (dependent upon time of year) or flying bugs like flies, moths or some other insects.
With the use of a Laser Pointer we can show you just how much dust there is in a room at any one time. The following three images show this in effect - the bright light point on the left is the laser light source... the beam sparkles with a myriad of dust, filaments, fibres, etc.
If one to watch a video of this you would not be at all surprised to see just how much dust and other airborne particulates there are in a room.
Then one can truly understand that so-called spirit 'orbs' are really only just dust and other airborne contaminants being captured within the cross-zone of a camera lens and the flash.
Streaks and 'Fast-moving' Orbs!
Another type of anomaly are the streaking effects and orbs that appear to be moving fast to leave trails behind them. These can be a hair draped close in-front of the camera lens and similar to dust is out-of-focus and therefore looks like an 'orb' actually in motion by its apparent 'streak trail'.
Other streaks can also be the camera strap looming into the view of the camera lens and again, being out-of-focus looks like a wide streak or what some claim to be a vortex (a spiritual gateway to the other side).
Below is a series of shots taken (on an iPhone SE) with flash on... and I have dangled a hairbrush with a few long hairs stuck in it in-front of the lens and flash (close up) moving it slightly away and then closer. The results are streak anomalies...
Other anomalies that are captured are coloured streaks and orbs. The following image is actually the hairbrush I used in the previous streak images... and the rounded ends of the brush ends are glowing white, red and pink in the 'close-up' flash to the camera lens.
Mists
Another anomaly commonly mistaken for paranormal activity or ghosts/spirits trying to manifest are misty swirls of fog or what some claim 'ectoplasm'. Ectoplasm is a thing of myth with regards to the fact nobody has ever gained a sample... and in years gone by many mediums tried to create this to great effect, but they were all found to be hoaxes.
So why is it that some people think mists caught on camera are such a thing? And what in fact are these strange captures on photos?
Well most, if not all, misty 'manifestations' on camera/camcorder are either smoke from a cigarette/cigar, pipe, a person's own breath... or a very fine portion of clothing materials flying into the camera view-point... all being caught up in the flash light of the camera/camcorder. Yes again smoke or breath can be illuminated just like dust, pollen and bugs can be. In fact if one were not to use the flash you would not capture any such photos!
One also has to remember that depending upon temperature and humidity, a person's breath upon exhalation can linger for a long time in the air due to the slowing of condensing of the fine mist-like vapour. This is similar to smokers who breathe out a lung-full of smoke - and YES this too goes for the modern vaping craze (can anyone honestly say they've not seen people who vape blow out large clouds of vaping smoke?).
So to all those who have taken such mist 'spirit' photos, before you claim you have captured a possible spirit manifestation consider the environment: where you are, time of year, time of day (most are all at night so flash is used), humidity, temperature.
Below are some examples (not my images - taken off the internet):
So how do we NOT capture FALSE anomalies during an investigation?
Well this is an easy one to answer... Cameras and Camcorders that have 'nightshot' facility will undoubtedly have their own in-built IR lamp unit illuminator. Now we all know that these are not powerful enough to go far... but close up they are not that bad and so can illuminate anything close by. So the best thing to do is switch this off in the settings.
Next it is a given that all paranormal investigators use additional Infrared lighting or illuminators to enable us to see better and further away in the dark than the in-built light. Now IR lighting is just the same as any other form of lighting even though it is invisible to the naked eye but not your nightvision-enabled camera equipment.
The best way to avoid false anomalies is to use a tripod for your camera/camcorder and place your IR illuminators as far away from this as possible to minimise orbs... and wherever possible ensure the illuminators view range does not cross into the camera lens field of view (the cross point) from the same angle view-point as the lens view - as this is what will cause the 'reflection phase' of the lighting to back-scatter into the field of view.
Also try never to point your camera/camcorder directly into IR light or reflect the IR light in a window or mirror, etc. as this will always cause lens flare and glare.
One good way is to use separate illuminators at a bigger angle-view to that of the camera/camcorder - similar as to what a professional photographer uses flash umbrellas. That way the illuminators light will not reflect back into the lens at such a close-range that it causes the large blurring ghost-like anomaly effect that has become the norm of all 'alleged' ghost photographs.
Happy investigating into the paranormal...