Reasonable explanation???

[gulf breeze]

Ok...I've run across some pictures that has "orbs" in them. The people are saying the pictures were taken at night, downloaded to the computor and lightened and these orbs show up. They are also saying these are "spirits". I'm not buying this But am curious as to what or how this is happening? Anyone have an clues?

 

[DueyDooDah]

Any examples?

 

[zackiedawg]

Nearly always, these ghostly little orbs in nighttime flash photos are dust particles illuminated by the flash.

It seems improbable that dust could be so prominent - however the flash hits the particles floating in the air and the smaller lenses of compact cameras are more prone to picking them up because of their extremely wide depth of field in their focus. Also, since the effect is caused by a bounced reflection off the dust particles, it is most common to see this when shooting with compact cameras where the flash is very close to the lens (the reflection bounces back almost directly into the lens). It's much the same reason small compact cameras suffer red eye when shooting with flash - it's the flash reflecting back from the inside of the eye.

The further away from the lens the flash unit is located, the less you will see dust particles or red eye. It's why you see professional photographers often have flash units that can pivot and 'bounce' the flash off the ceiling so it's coming from a very different angle than the lens is pointing (this also helps to control strange aligned shadows directly behind a subject).

 

[gulf breeze]

http://www.sewforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=111968 Here's a link to the photos. I'm really hesitant(sp) about posting the link, I'm in no way bad mouthing or trying to belittle this person in any way, shape or form. I just thought with all the wonderful camera people on this board someone could explain to me what they are. To tell you the truth they can of give me the willies! I may never take another night shot again!!!

 

[zackiedawg]

Yep...dust specks llluminated by the flash, for sure! They can be quite irritating.

 

[Groucho]

Here's an example, from my old point-n-shoot, taken when my father and I were building my home theater. Note that we had been working on drywall.

OH NOES! THE GHOSTS!

Anyone actually believing that they may be errant spirits is hereby sentenced to read "Why People Believe In Weird Things" and start visiting James Randi's website regularly.

I think people started to see them more in cheap digital cameras because the flash is so close to the lens, it's more easy for light to reflect off things and bounce straight back into the lens, making things unusually bright. This is exactly the same thing that causes the dreaded red-eye syndrome. Small film cameras were still relatively large due to the larger film size so wouldn't suffer from this so dramatically.

(I actually didn't read all of zackiedawg's response, he covered basically the same ground. So, "like he said." )

 

[SharonLowe]

The other thing I have seen people wonder about ended up being birds flying through with a relatively slow shutter speed - fast enough to catch the birds but slow enough that they were blurred so they looked like little flying ships.

 

[Michele]

What do I have to do to view the pictures in the link? It says 'You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post' I registered on this site, but still can't see them.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I might be one of the few to admit it, but I do believe that sometimes orbs are spirits. They show up in my photos once in a while, always seemingly at "special" times with uncanny placement. Once, for example, my kids were on two separate areas of the stage in a school recital and each of them had an orb right over them while nobody else did. Normally I wouldn't have thought much about it, but they show up enough that they now have meaning for me. I like to think it's my Dad's way of letting me know he's around them, even though he passed before they were born. There's a lot of information on orbs out there, from both the believer's and the skeptic's viewpoints.

 

[thomas998]

What do I have to do to view the pictures in the link? It says 'You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post' I registered on this site, but still can't see them.

Curiosity got the best of me... I had to register... then make sure you login to the site... then got to Board index » Project Showcase » Miscellaneous Pictures (Non Fiber Arts Related)

and then you can find the thing titled "Things we can't see that go bump in the night!"

Now before you go to the trouble of doing all that... be warned... you have a lot of pictures where the shooters hair got in front of the lens... and an even greater number of pictures where the shooter apparently decided to use a camera with a very dirty filthy dirty lens.... no ghosts... just a very incompetent person using a camera that appears to have a lens so dirty that I'm amazed it still functioned.

 

[thomas998]

I might be one of the few to admit it, but I do believe that sometimes orbs are spirits. They show up in my photos once in a while, always seemingly at "special" times with uncanny placement. Once, for example, my kids were on two separate areas of the stage in a school recital and each of them had an orb right over them while nobody else did. Normally I wouldn't have thought much about it, but they show up enough that they now have meaning for me. I like to think it's my Dad's way of letting me know he's around them, even though he passed before they were born. There's a lot of information on orbs out there, from both the believer's and the skeptic's viewpoints.

When I see an orb appear before me in person I'll believe... until that time, photos can be too easily doctored... not to mention the simple fact that dust and splotches on the lenses are the reason for most of the "orbs"

 

[Metallicat]

I took this late one night while peeking in the front gates of Universal. straight ahead at the light was the Ghostbuster attraction. think the ghosts were out partying that night?
No, I don't believe ANY orbs are ghosts. they are simply reflections of dust. thats all. now, if someone showed me a picture with a smokey, foggy face in it, I might just believe it. but ghosts showing up as orbs? nope, I don't buy it.

 

[jann1033]

I took this late one night while peeking in the front gates of Universal. straight ahead at the light was the Ghostbuster attraction. think the ghosts were out partying that night?
No, I don't believe ANY orbs are ghosts. they are simply reflections of dust. thats all. now, if someone showed me a picture with a smokey, foggy face in it, I might just believe it. but ghosts showing up as orbs? nope, I don't buy it.

I'm not so sure on this one since the orbs/blur here kind of make a mickey head, maybe a vengeful steamship willy having some fun with the competition?

 

[Metallicat]

I'm not so sure on this one since the orbs/blur here kind of make a mickey head, maybe a vengeful steamship willy having some fun with the competition?

I don't know... it looks like the orbs were heading straight for the front gate. maybe they were going to Disney?

Awhile back someone posted a picture on another board I read. it was taken at Disney and it had some "orbs" in it. the thing is, behind the orbs was the outline of a face, sort of etched in the fog. it was downright evil looking. funny thing is, nobody noticed the face but me. everybody else was ooohing and ahhing over the orbs.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

When I see an orb appear before me in person I'll believe... until that time, photos can be too easily doctored... not to mention the simple fact that dust and splotches on the lenses are the reason for most of the "orbs"

You can believe whatever you like.

 

[gulf breeze]

Oh...sorry everyone! I forgot you'd have to register to see the pictures. It wasn't worth that much effort I also thought it must be lint after I saw the one were she shook lint out of something then the party started I've never heard of ghost appearing as orbs before, I thought it must be sorta like when you take a picture of the sun shinning and you get those bright spots. I took a picture of a house once that my folks use to live in (and said it was haunted). I was almost scared to get the film developed, thought someone might be waving at me from a window Thanks everyone!

 

[Groucho]

One big thing that is always used in critical thinking is "Occam's Razor"... basically, you take the two possibilities and you can usually slice off the less likely one.

For example... what's more likely?
1) Orb photos are reflections of dust in the air (and there's always dust in the air), or...
2) Orb photos are proof of spirits, and require a massive rewrite of nearly every law of physics and prove or disprove almost every religion in existence (I've never heard of a religion that claims that when you die, you can run around Earth and appear as a translucent circle that happens to look exactly like a speck of dust and can be faked by anyone with a pocket digital camera and could never be seen before the advent of cheap digital cameras - I sure hope not, especially when I'm in the shower! Yikes! I don't want ancestors staring at me!)

Legitimate scientists would love to find something like this, some evidence of previously unknown life forms all around us (like was done with germs), but there's just no hard evidence - every photo can pretty easily be explained.

My previous message was somewhat tongue in cheek, but I do very highly recommend Why People Believe Weird Things to everybody. Critical thinking is extremely rare nowadays and a very necessary tool to help protect yourself from the cheats, liars, quacks, and nut jobs who are out there trying to sell you magic beans in exchange for your hard-earned money.

 

[JR6ooo4]

When the orbs resemble an old fisherman, and he looks you in the eye, from the room you stayed in... then you can contemplate, without fear of judgment.

that is a crop from this photo, (second floor - second window from the left)

but the photo of separate orbs over each child is also intriguing.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Are you guys serious? Do you not see orbs floating around you? I have a devil of a time getting them out of my way before I take pictures.

 

[Groucho]

There are millions of photos taken of millions of subjects each day... it's inevitable that we'll see some that look odd at first glance. That particular example shows one coincidence in one window of one building. Is that enough to throw out everything we know about science? And why a big fisherman head, instead of orbs?

One thing that is talked about in the book is the way humans recognize patterns, it's one of our major skills. And recognizing faces is a particularly strong talent that's ingrained into us from the moment of birth. Put two dots over a line and that's enough to make us think we see a face in almost any circumstance. Just ask any child how easily everyday objects can look like faces or bodies once the lights go out.

Another example... we all spent time as kids looking at all the recognizable patterns we see in clouds every day... yet we still know that they're just clouds.

I'm not trying to judge anyone or say that this is a matter of intelligence, because it's not... but it is a matter of critical thinking.