NEW ZEALAND STRANGE OCCURRENCES SOCIETY
  • Contact
    • Disclaimer & safety issues
    • NZSOS Privacy Policy
    • Encounter check list
    • Ghost Advice
    • FAQs
  • Photos
    • Orbs
    • Orbs explained
    • Flare
    • Mists
    • Pareidolia, apophenia
    • International photos
    • Uncategorised
    • Analogue photos
  • Ectoplasmic Residue Blog
    • Blog index
  • NZSOS
  • Methods
    • Investigation procedure
    • Paranormal investigation equipment
    • Science & pseudoscience
    • Thoughts on ghosts
  • Videos
  • Media
  • Links
    • International links
  • Spooked book
    • Blurb
    • Media & reviews
    • Other NZ paranormal books
  • Paranormal Novel
  • Contact
    • Disclaimer & safety issues
    • NZSOS Privacy Policy
    • Encounter check list
    • Ghost Advice
    • FAQs
  • Photos
    • Orbs
    • Orbs explained
    • Flare
    • Mists
    • Pareidolia, apophenia
    • International photos
    • Uncategorised
    • Analogue photos
  • Ectoplasmic Residue Blog
    • Blog index
  • NZSOS
  • Methods
    • Investigation procedure
    • Paranormal investigation equipment
    • Science & pseudoscience
    • Thoughts on ghosts
  • Videos
  • Media
  • Links
    • International links
  • Spooked book
    • Blurb
    • Media & reviews
    • Other NZ paranormal books
  • Paranormal Novel
Search

Orbs in photos, yet again (Give me strength)

11/6/2015

1 Comment

 
Fever Hospital, Nurses' home, Wellington, photo by Helen Gower, Strange occurrences Paranormal Investigators Wellington new Zealand
Fever Hospital, Wellington
non-paranormal orb caused by dust and flash, Fever Hospital, Nurses' home, Wellington, photo by Helen Gower, Strange occurrences Paranormal Investigators Wellington new Zealand
Dust orb on dusty stairs
I just spent some time writing this reply to a genuinely concerned person who took the trouble to email Strange Occurrences for advice. (This is a slightly modified and expanded version.) I hope it doesn't come across as scornful or grumpy; that's not the intention. It's just that, more than anything, I'm feeling exasperated. Why are paranormal investigators, in 2015, still hung up on orbs?

Propagating the belief that dust orbs are spiritual in nature makes the paranormal community look like idiots in the eyes of skeptics and denies us any degree of credibility.
Jewellery studio, Inverlochy Art School, Strange Occurrences Paranormal Investigators Wellington new Zealand
Jewellery studio, Inverlochy Art School
non-paranormal dust orb, Jewellery studio, Inverlochy Art School, Strange Occurrences Paranormal Investigators Wellington new Zealand
Close up of dust orb
I'm not going to print the received email, but here's my reply:

"J___, please don't worry about the orbs in photos. They're not paranormal, they're totally harmless photographic anomalies.

"Frankly, it amazes me that people who should know better (i.e. those running 'ghost tours', or people in paranormal investigation groups) still treat orbs as paranormal phenomena. Often, they're just winding people up - giving the impression that something paranormal is happening when really there's nothing except dust. This is mostly to make their commercial activities seem more exciting, when, in reality, most of the time nothing remotely paranormal occurs during paid-for paranormal investigations or ghost tours.

"These orb thingies began cropping up in large numbers early this century, about the time people lots of people started using compact digital cameras. Here's an explanation of how orbs occur. (Admittedly, this article was written a good few years ago, before there were cellphone cameras with LED flashes, which produce orbs that look a little different, but the physics is the same.)

"With each different camera model and type you use, the orbs will appear different in colour, size, texture, etc. More professional-type DSLR cameras don't show orbs at all, which is why professional photographers are often puzzled by them.

Basement, Wellington Museum of City and Sea, non-paranormal dust orb, Strange Occurrences paranormal investigation, Wellington NZ
Basement, City & Sea Museum
close up of dust orb and hole in concrete, Basement, Wellington Museum of City and Sea, non-paranormal dust orb, Strange Occurrences paranormal investigation, Wellington NZ
Basement dust orb & hole
"Orbs can look amazing, especially when you zoom up on them. They don't look like anything from the natural world (except maybe microscopic organisms, which they are not). They can have strange looking surfaces, corona, patterns within them that sometimes look like something recognisable, and they can come in all sorts of colours (due in part to lens coatings) and shapes (due to the shape of the lens aperture blades - see photos below). They can even look like they're partially behind things that are far back in the photo. But it's all to do with optics, lens coatings, lens imperfections, camera design, and digital sharpening, compression and interpolation. And of course psychological factors in the interpretation of the images - see pareidolia.

"If you are lucky enough to see - with your own eyes, not the camera's - a little light source floating around in the middle of a room, then it may well be something paranormal! Take a photo of it; take heaps of photos; shoot a video. But the orbs that you can't see with your eyes but which keep appearing in your digital photos are easily explained, and they are extremely unlikely to be paranormal in any respect."
Raindrop orbs, non-paranormal orbs,, Strange Occurrences paranormal investigation, Wellington NZ
Orbs from raindrops
Raindrop orb caused by camera flash, non-paranormal false positive, , Strange Occurrences paranormal investigation, Wellington NZ
Raindrop orb
ADDENDA:
This part of my reply has less to do with the photographic orbs, but here it is anyway:
"The behaviour of your cat and dog will be totally unconnected to the orb photos. Rememeber that they have much sharper hearing than we do, and can probably hear tiny, faint sounds like maybe a beetle chewing through wood deep in the walls somewhere, or they can smell something we can't. Dogs and cats are especially sensitive to human emotions, so if you're getting a bit freaked out by something, the dog or cat will probably also react, even if it is unaware of the source of your fear. Also, these animals are intelligent and have the capacity to imagine things, just as we do.

"Once we get thinking about a paranormal reason for odd things occurring (for example; a poltergeist as a reason for something falling or turning up in an unusual place), our minds naturally make the jump to attributing other, unconnected events to the same cause. But in all likelihood these things are totally  unrelated. Looking at things more objectively requires stepping back from them, which is where paranormal investigators (sensible, experienced ones) can be of assistance.
Raindrop orb
Raindrop orb
daimond shaped lens aperture-shaped dust orb, non-paranormal orb, Strange occurrences parannormal investigators, Welington New Zealand
Aperture-shaped orb 1
Hexagonal lens aperture-shaped dust orb, non-paranormal orb, Strange occurrences parannormal investigators, Welington New Zealand
Aperture-shaped orb 2
"However, in the meantime, I would advise you to take a note of anything strange that happens - the time, place, weather conditions, who was present - a detailed description, with photos. Keep a diary, in other words. Then if you decide to get paranormal investigators in, they will have specific things to take a close look at. We love it when we can go to someone's house and find they've kept an accurate record of a bunch of stuff that's unexplained. Then we can examine it piece by piece and see if we can find natural causes, and any rational connections between events. Also see 'What to do if you see a ghost'.

"Please let me know if anything else interesting happens, or you get any more intriguing photos."
1 Comment
adrian
18/6/2015 07:11:55 pm

nice did you get eney thing like evp ett ecos and apps nice to see that some one out ther gets to have fun all the best a from ads

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Ectoplasmic Residue

    is a blog by James Gilberd - leader and co-founder of Strange Occurrences. Views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the Strange Occurrences team.
    To see blogs sorted by topic, go to BLOG INDEX

    RSS Feed

    Author

    James Gilberd is an amateur paranormalist, writer and musician, and a professional photographer, living in Wellington, New Zealand.

    Archives

    February 2021
    June 2019
    January 2019
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    July 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    October 2013
    July 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    Book Review Paranormal
    Book Review - Paranormal
    General Paranormal

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Contact
    • Disclaimer & safety issues
    • NZSOS Privacy Policy
    • Encounter check list
    • Ghost Advice
    • FAQs
  • Photos
    • Orbs
    • Orbs explained
    • Flare
    • Mists
    • Pareidolia, apophenia
    • International photos
    • Uncategorised
    • Analogue photos
  • Ectoplasmic Residue Blog
    • Blog index
  • NZSOS
  • Methods
    • Investigation procedure
    • Paranormal investigation equipment
    • Science & pseudoscience
    • Thoughts on ghosts
  • Videos
  • Media
  • Links
    • International links
  • Spooked book
    • Blurb
    • Media & reviews
    • Other NZ paranormal books
  • Paranormal Novel