Making Friends With Your IR Camera

Okay, so you finally broke down and bought an Infrared
Camera. You’ve spent about $100, and eagerly waited for
the delivery of your latest E-Bay bid, and when it arrives you
hook it all up (or you think you do) correctly and suddenly
you realize you have no clue what you’re doing! Sound
familiar? If it doesn’t your definitely one step ahead of me
when I first started working with infra-red! When I first
hooked up my infra-red camera I thought my bedroom was
full of paranormal activity with “orbs” flying around
everywhere! Much to my embarrassment I soon realized
these “orbs” were simply products of two hyper cats and a
man who fails to dust! I do have to admit it freaked me out
though ?.

Infra-red picks up much that can’t be seen with the naked
eye. Not only would that include possible orbs, but also dust
balls, hair, insects, and any other small particles that can
drift around a room in a very weak airflow.
As most of us already know, infra-red is hard to define. Here’
s a hopefully straightforward definition. Our eyes are very
limited in the total darkness. They’re also quite limited in
what we see on the color spectrum. Infra red cameras aim in
the part of the spectrum we’re unable to see, the infra-red,
or deep red, section. Think of a spectrum. We generally see
from violet to red, but we can’t see other colors that go
beyond that spectrum, both infra-red and ultra-violet. The
infra red camera uses the infra red beams to “see” in this
band. This imaging makes use of the infrared spectral band.
At the short-wavelength end of the boundary is the limit of
visual perception, in the deep red. At the long-wavelength
end it merges with the microwave radio wavelengths.
In other words, the camera sees what we can’t see in that
infra-red band. Since the infra red band is so extreme on
the end of the spectrum, the image appears opposite with
the lighter being darker and vice-versa. Black looks white.
Color cannot be seen on the infra-red image, since there is
no “white light” to produce color images and were working
beyond the color spectrum. So what you need to know in a
nutshell is simply that we can’t see certain things with our
own eyes, infra red imaging can see some of those images,
and many paranormal researches believe we can catch
images on infra-red such as orbs and ghosts.
OK, now that I confused you, let’s see what can be seen
with infra-red. Many researchers claim to see orbs on the
infra red cam. However, the problem comes when we can’t
tell what is an orb and what’s a piece of dust, or cat-hair or
an insect, or a reflection. I would advise putting the camera
in a room with the door closed and allow about fifteen
minutes to let the dust settle. Then watch the monitor to
see what happens. If something is just going with a possible
current across the camera chances are it’s dust. If it’s
brighter and jumps around and acts completely random it
may be an orb, but it could be a fly as well. The best bet
would be to examine the room where the camera is and
check for bugs. You really need to dismiss anything natural
before it is deemed “unexplained”.
Some people claim they have had seen full apparitions on
the IR monitor. This may be possible, but we have not had
any recorded experiences of this as of yet. Personally I
have heard stories of this, but no footage. So it may
happen. I Hope someday to see this with my own eyes, and
get it on tape! One of our guys did see a female figure on
the infra red camera, but sadly no other team members saw
her. Hopefully we will catch her on tape, but it seems like
they can never be recorded!

Finally, one more thing. For some reason, the IR monitor
always seems to attract everyone, and quite often several
team members will flock to the monitor and just gaze at the
screen while chatting slowly increases. Please remember
that the IR camera is only one part of the investigation. Try
not to focus all your time on just this device. There are
plenty of other things involved, and if you choose to (and it’
s adaptable) the IR monitor can be hooked up to a VCR and
can be viewed at a later time. If it can be recorded, that’s
your best bet. If you do have people watch the monitor,
have just two, and have them limit their conversations.
Conversations can be distracting, and the watchers really
need to focus on what they see.

Just remember the IR camera can be used for a variety of
purposes, both natural and supernatural. Not only can it
monitor a sleeping infant or catch a thief in action, but it can
possibly catch some good paranormal footage as well. Just
remember it’s only one piece of equipment and it should
have its place on an investigation. It’s not the nucleus of an
investigation just an equal part like all other pieces of
equipment. If you DO get any really interesting experiences
on IR, please email me. I would love to hear from you!

-Al Tyas,
Founder, DCMAG