Scrutinising Photos
"Just how do you go about checking that the photo someone asks you to look over is the genuine thing? Well there are some things you can do to see if it is the original... and also have a bit of fun in the process"
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Date: 5th October 2020
“When you are limited to just looking at a photograph of an alleged manifestation or other paranormal activity, it would be in your best interests to get hold of a photo editing programme like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro"
Sometimes you really do need to mess around with an image to check on the small things...
Firstly... is the image the RAW original?
Remember on the previous blog we mentioned the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data and that it is the best weapon when viewing alleged proof of paranormal activity on still photography? Well we also said to be suspicious of any editing or other manipulation such as brightening, contrast editing, colourising, cropping, highlighting and pointing to something on the photo, etc.
Well sometimes doing some editing of your own might just be your other secret weapon in your scrutinising arsenal... but only on the original image file. If it's not the original then don't waste your time.
Negative or 'Inverted' image
We all know that with modern photo software imaging packages we can manipulate any photo by brightening, darkening, cutting, cropping, hue, saturation, contrast, RGB deepening, solarising... the list is endless with all the enhancements in these programmes. But there is perhaps only one main editing thing you can do to check on a photo... and that is to 'invert' or 'negative' the image. Yes there are a few other edits you can do, but the first one is to invert!
Inverting an image can make the light bright areas of the image - like any lights or bright reflections, etc. - dark to black and vice versa. This helps to analyse the image on possible shadow figures or manifestations and even 'orbs'.
In the below images... on the top are of the sun at sunset and the lower images of a mountain rescue team on an actual rescue or training. On the left are the standard and the right inverted edits. Notice how all the white or bright areas stand out as black or darker on the negative?
Centre-point lens flare
Another thing you can do to an image is to place a cross-hair on it in the centre. This is to check on those so-called 'orbs'...
Ever used your smartphone and taken a video of a nice vista and caught the sun in the image... you will notice that a strange coloured 'orb' appears to move in exact opposite to where the sun is on the image. Many people claim this is a spirit orb. Well it is merely just a lens flare from the sun or any bright light source that orbits around the centre of the image.
Easiest way to prove this is to cross section the image - place a cross-hair through its centre point then place a line from the centre of the light source to the orb. You will notice the line passes directly through the centre of the image. This is a standard phenomena that happens when using smartphones and some other digital cameras when filming directly into the sun or a bright light source.
Again on the left are the standard and on the right are the centre-point cross-hair and lining of where the bright areas (sun or lights, etc.) are causing the lens flare 'orbs' in exact opposite via the centre-point of the image.
Solarising
Solarising is another thing to check an image for any bright areas or light sources...
Most photo-editing software can use filters that generate image editing and other manipulation. Solarising can help if you are wanting to trace all bright lights, areas, etc.
As before the left images are the standards and the right are solarised - showing the brighter areas as darker or black and then colourising other areas as the brighter areas on the original get darker from the bright points... like an aura.
Zooming in
Now we all know that when you zoom in too much on an image then pixellation and matrixing occurs so much that the distortion can also make things look like something when it is nothing at all. But sometimes those distortions can identify when something just does not look right... not all the time but it will have your suspicions on edge.
In the cropped and zoomed in image below (from the internet so not able to check out the EXIF data) it was claimed that there was a figure standing in the doorway at the far end (where the darkness is). Upon zooming in on that area check out the pixellation... both areas on the left and right seem sharp with the pixellation except for the centre part where the doorway area is and especially the floor area - lower part of centre section (I have sectioned out below to emphasise)... it appears too blurry. Even the lower right corner of the left section and the lower left corner of the right section also appear blurry as though editing has been done.
On suspicion, is this to perhaps create the illusion of something in the doorway? I'm not sure as I have no access to the original RAW file, but when I see any form of distorted areas that do not appear to be natural as the main photo then I have my doubts on the claim.
Not saying this was faked but it does make you think...
Conclusion?
Yes we do not like seeing people uploading edited images to show their 'proof' of paranormal activity... but when you need to check out those images - as long as you have the original image - then it is perfectly okay to do your own editing to scrutinise those small things that you might not really notice.
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