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Mickey Burrow Paranormal Research and Investigations Copyright 2011
Mickey Burrow Paranormal Research and Investigations Copyright 2011
Photographic Paranormal Anomalies Examined
By Mickey Burrow (7/2010)
Have you ever taken a photograph of family or friends only to find a strange anomaly appearing in the image? With today’s photographic technology, it’s becoming common place for these “anomalies” to appear in images. Not because of a sophistication or advancement of equipment that can detect such things; but a misunderstanding of how it works.
Prior to about 1995 and the introduction of the advanced point and shoot camera era, a lot of people generally relied on what little they knew about photography to make an image. Look through the viewfinder, focus, push button, make picture. With the introduction of the microprocessor and advantageous effort to make them part of photography, they were put into point and shoot cameras giving them the ability to auto focus and assess the scene for lighting conditions. People began to put more and more faith in their cameras for making a photograph turn out like a professionally shot image. The mechanics of how this is accomplished has stayed the same, but the method for achieving these images has improved dramatically. Most modern point and shoot cameras are equipped with a dial or user menu settings which allow the user to pick an icon that best describes their shooting situation or subject. If it’s a sport shot… spin the dial to the little running man icon. If it’s a close up shot… put it on the little flower, etc. And for the most part, these “PHD” (push here dummy) settings work for most shooting scenarios, and people get the results they want or need. These icon settings are mechanically (generally speaking) very similar over all. Meaning: The sports icon will use the same camera settings to produce the image as the macro setting would. Just a difference is the dial or menu is all. Nothing special is changed in the camera other than the ISO (sensor sensitivity), shutter speed and aperture settings to make the image turn out the way a “professional” would. Example: You are taking a photograph of your child on the soccer field, so you put the camera on the running man (sport) icon. You are essentially telling the camera to pick the highest shutter speed possible to get stop action. The camera will then select a higher ISO setting (if set on auto ISO), open the lens aperture to the widest opening possible, and then select the highest shutter speed to compensate for the light coming in. Results … stopped motion. And this works for most.
At the other end of the spectrum is a slow shutter speed. When you slow a shutter down you will allow more light to hit the camera sensor. On the camera dial or user menu, the icon is called night shot and is generally denoted with a figure with a star on the shoulder or some variation. With this setting the camera ISO may be slowed down (if it is on the auto ISO setting), the aperture is narrowed, and the shutter will open longer to compensate for the lack light. This is how it is suppose to work… Example: You photograph friends in front of a Farris wheel and you don’t see the Farris wheel in the back ground, just your friends from the burst of the flash. With this setting you will be able to gather more light from the Farris wheel making it visible in the image after the camera flash has fired. This is achieved by the shutter remaining open longer, letting the back ground light in. One thing owner’s manuals doesn’t tell you is that it is recommended that you use a tripod when using this setting to hold the camera still until the shutter has closed. Enter the anomalies!
The anomalies in some images appear as streaks of light or orbs in mid air with a ghostly comet like tails coming from the back. The streaks of light have definite shape and are well defined as they streak across the image and sometimes pass in front of stationary objects. Ghosts! No not really. In examining hundreds of these images, I find that because these were shot at night or indoors, people were using the camera’s night shot mode, like the owner’s manual said to. But taken without a tripod. With the shutter open the photographer moves before the shutter has closed, resulting in these streaks if light. Take a piece of paper and set it on the table. Now take a pencil and place it on the paper as if to write. Without moving your pencil, pull the paper out from under the pencil tip. You will leave a streak of lead. Same thing with a camera sensor. Only difference is the pencil is replaced with light, and the piece of paper is the camera sensor. Orbs, which are either dust or water vapor in the air, move by nature. So when the camera flash is reflected off of them, or they are back lit by another light source, they take on a comet like motion appearance in the image.
So some anomalies can at times be explained in photographs. At some point in the future the sophistication of equipment may be able to eliminate these photographic errors, and become sensitive enough to capture real anomalies. Until then we can only look at them and understand how they work and how they are made.
Prior to about 1995 and the introduction of the advanced point and shoot camera era, a lot of people generally relied on what little they knew about photography to make an image. Look through the viewfinder, focus, push button, make picture. With the introduction of the microprocessor and advantageous effort to make them part of photography, they were put into point and shoot cameras giving them the ability to auto focus and assess the scene for lighting conditions. People began to put more and more faith in their cameras for making a photograph turn out like a professionally shot image. The mechanics of how this is accomplished has stayed the same, but the method for achieving these images has improved dramatically. Most modern point and shoot cameras are equipped with a dial or user menu settings which allow the user to pick an icon that best describes their shooting situation or subject. If it’s a sport shot… spin the dial to the little running man icon. If it’s a close up shot… put it on the little flower, etc. And for the most part, these “PHD” (push here dummy) settings work for most shooting scenarios, and people get the results they want or need. These icon settings are mechanically (generally speaking) very similar over all. Meaning: The sports icon will use the same camera settings to produce the image as the macro setting would. Just a difference is the dial or menu is all. Nothing special is changed in the camera other than the ISO (sensor sensitivity), shutter speed and aperture settings to make the image turn out the way a “professional” would. Example: You are taking a photograph of your child on the soccer field, so you put the camera on the running man (sport) icon. You are essentially telling the camera to pick the highest shutter speed possible to get stop action. The camera will then select a higher ISO setting (if set on auto ISO), open the lens aperture to the widest opening possible, and then select the highest shutter speed to compensate for the light coming in. Results … stopped motion. And this works for most.
At the other end of the spectrum is a slow shutter speed. When you slow a shutter down you will allow more light to hit the camera sensor. On the camera dial or user menu, the icon is called night shot and is generally denoted with a figure with a star on the shoulder or some variation. With this setting the camera ISO may be slowed down (if it is on the auto ISO setting), the aperture is narrowed, and the shutter will open longer to compensate for the lack light. This is how it is suppose to work… Example: You photograph friends in front of a Farris wheel and you don’t see the Farris wheel in the back ground, just your friends from the burst of the flash. With this setting you will be able to gather more light from the Farris wheel making it visible in the image after the camera flash has fired. This is achieved by the shutter remaining open longer, letting the back ground light in. One thing owner’s manuals doesn’t tell you is that it is recommended that you use a tripod when using this setting to hold the camera still until the shutter has closed. Enter the anomalies!
The anomalies in some images appear as streaks of light or orbs in mid air with a ghostly comet like tails coming from the back. The streaks of light have definite shape and are well defined as they streak across the image and sometimes pass in front of stationary objects. Ghosts! No not really. In examining hundreds of these images, I find that because these were shot at night or indoors, people were using the camera’s night shot mode, like the owner’s manual said to. But taken without a tripod. With the shutter open the photographer moves before the shutter has closed, resulting in these streaks if light. Take a piece of paper and set it on the table. Now take a pencil and place it on the paper as if to write. Without moving your pencil, pull the paper out from under the pencil tip. You will leave a streak of lead. Same thing with a camera sensor. Only difference is the pencil is replaced with light, and the piece of paper is the camera sensor. Orbs, which are either dust or water vapor in the air, move by nature. So when the camera flash is reflected off of them, or they are back lit by another light source, they take on a comet like motion appearance in the image.
So some anomalies can at times be explained in photographs. At some point in the future the sophistication of equipment may be able to eliminate these photographic errors, and become sensitive enough to capture real anomalies. Until then we can only look at them and understand how they work and how they are made.
© Mickey Burrow (7/2010)
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