Photographic Analysis: Orbs

This article was updated on 8/4/04

Lately, my email inbox has been inundated with mail from
excited investigators, both experienced and amateur, who
believe they have captured a paranormal anomaly on film.
While their excitement is exhilarating, more often than not, I
find when I open the attachment and look at the picture, I
am immediately let down. It seems that recently, we have all
become a little too eager to capture evidence on film and,
in our haste to substantiate, we overlook some of the most
basic factors when analyzing our own images.

So, it is in this light that we decided to run a series of
articles based on how to debunk your own images so that
when you present them to the public you are not only
providing REAL evidence, you are also maintaining your
credibility.

Ok, with that said, we will start off by talking about some
basic things to look for when you are looking at a picture
with an orb/globule in it. There are 4 possible causes for an
orb to appear in your image and they are as follows:

1. Refraction of a dust particle.

Oftentimes the tiniest particle of dust will reflect the flash of
your camera or the infrared light of a digital camera
producing a stunning orb that most investigators would
drool over. Now, the most popular excuse for claiming that
it is not dust is; "But, all the other images had no orbs in it.
Only this one". Well, that is because it was only one particle
of dust and it is most likely still there in the other photos
but it is just not at the right position or angle to reflect the
light of the camera flash again.

So, the question remains, how do we know when it is dust
and when it is a true orb? Dust tends to refract in a perfect
circle with little "noise" in it and no border. By this we mean
that the orb does not look like a cell under a microscope. Its
make-up is pretty much a solid color without a defined
border to it.

2. Refraction of moisture.

This is a little bit easier to spot. An orb caused by moisture
will tend to have angular sides to it and its make-up tends
to fade from solid to transparent. Once again it has no
border. And like the dust particle, moisture can appear in
one photo and not in another that was taken immediately
afterwards.

The larger the moisture the less angular it will look. A
picture of rain drops will yield very little angularity at all. In
fact it will produce small solid looking object that can easily
be mistaken for orbs. A fine mist will produce angular sides.

3. Reflection of an object.

Ok, I must say that this is the most common mistake made
and usually the easiest to spot. If you have an image with
multiple orbs in it and one is more intense than the other,
then, chances are, you have a reflection.

Here is why. When light reflects off of an object it produces
many circular "flares" in an image. These vary in intensity
and are usually located within a straight line emanating from
the source, which is usually some small object in the
background that is overlooked by the investigator when
reviewing the image. The objects can range from a small
ring on a nightstand to the varnish on a table or door.

If you have Adobe PhotoShop, you can take an image like
this, run its gamma to near max and you will see that the orb
will have the same gamma signature as the object from
which they are emanating.

4. True paranormal energy.

Now we're talking. Once you have eliminated the above
possibilities, it is time to take a good, long, close look at the
orb itself. What you are looking for in "orb" activity is a solid
object that emits its own light. It will usually show up on film
looking like someone just threw a ping-pong ball across the
screen. If the orb has signs of movement, such as a blurred
trail behind it, then you've got some rather solid evidence.

The other characteristic of orb activity that we consider is
the coloration of the orb. True orbs are colored in the
"cool" end of the spectrum, namely white, blue, or green.
Any orb activity that shows up as red, orange, or yellow, it
typical of dust, light refraction, or processing error.

But remember, and orb is just a collection of energy not the
manifestation of a ghost. While orbs are usually present
during paranormal activity, you can have orbs show up
without paranormal activity.

"Orbs" are a natural phenomenon and can be witnessed
with little difficulty in parts of up-state New York as well as
other regions around the globe.

So, next time you are flipping through your case pics and
find a big white orb staring you down, take the time to really
analyze the picture, find the orb's true origins and then
present it to the world and be confident that your credibility
will remain intact.

Rock on,

-Grant (TAPS)