Paranormal Photoshops

[JesseCuster]

I have a not-quite-hobby of taking my own photos and making them into paranormal photos. I use my own base photos (pics I have actually photographed myself) combined with stuff I've found in other pics of my own or found via Google Images. I thought I'd post a couple of my creations here. I do not claim these to be ghost photos or approve of them being used by others as ghost photos.

Here goes:

Ghost manifesting as a wispy presence:

Ghost appearing in church window:

Ghost in church:

Slenderman in church yard:

I'll post others later if there's any further interest.

[d e v i c e]

Pretty good. Nice editing.

[Saru]

This is a nice idea for a thread but to those contributing - please only use either images that you own or that you have permission to use. Pictures taken from Google Images for example will most likely be copyrighted.

Thank you.

[scowl]

Slenderman in church yard:

I'll post others later if there's any further interest.

I think a cool and slightly artistic one would be a grave yard with long shadows and one grave stone casting a long shadow of a hooded figure above it with no visible figure above the grave stone. Is this the slenderman thing? (I haven't followed those threads).

[JesseCuster]

I think a cool and slightly artistic one would be a grave yard with long shadows and one grave stone casting a long shadow of a hooded figure above it with no visible figure above the grave stone. Is this the slenderman thing? (I haven't followed those threads).

That's a pretty neat idea. I've a bunch of photos taken in various old cemeteries, I might have a look and see what I can find and try something like this.

[scowl]

I've been intending to do a crawlspace ghost (merge a picture of my crawlspace then one of me sitting in it with a small light between my legs) but I haven't gotten around to it. It's too damn creepy down there.

Edited July 18, 2013 by scowl

[Princess Serenity]

These are wicked! Please keep sharing them! <3333

[*Frank*]

Do a search for the 'ghost photo manipulation contest' threads. There have been lots of cool entries posted in those.

[LostSouls7]

Wow very cool I do like! great job and keep up the good work!!!

[scowl]

Do a search for the 'ghost photo manipulation contest' threads. There have been lots of cool entries posted in those.

I did this and all I found were photos that were wonderfully artistic but would never pass as real ghost photos. In most of them the "ghost" is practically waving its arms yelling "Look at me! I'm a ghost!"

[Purple Octopus]

Cool! I look forward to more pics Jesse. Could you tell us a bit more about which program and techniques you use?

Edited July 19, 2013 by phantasia

[JesseCuster]

Cool! I look forward to more pics Jesse. Could you tell us a bit more about which program and techniques you use?

Photoshop CS5. Expensive but worth it if you do a lot of photo editing and manipulation. I've heard that GIMP and Paint.net are good free alternatives.

All the original photos are my own.

To make them look old, I convert them to black and white and add a layer with a grungy texture on it. Playing around with different layer blending modes can achieve different effects so I just experiment until I find what I want. That way I turn an nice crisp vibrant modern digital image into something that might pass for an old black and white photo or an old damaged 35mm slide or whatever.

The ghosts themselves like the boy in the room and the girls in the church are easy to achieve when you know how. Find a website offering free ghost pics for photoshop. They're usually conveniently already grey figures against a black background. That makes it easy to copy and paste them into their own layer without having to try and cut out a figure from a complex background which is a pain and the end result rarely works for me. Resize them and place them where you want. Choose a blend mode for the layer like screen or lighten and you achieve ghostly effect. Colorise the layer if you want your ghost to have a slightly greenish or bluish hint and play with the transparency if you want your ghost to be more transparent and more subtle looking. Applying horizontal motion blur to the ghost can be a nice effect as well. Regular blur to make the ghost fuzzy doesn't look very good.

[*Frank*]

I did this and all I found were photos that were wonderfully artistic but would never pass as real ghost photos. In most of them the "ghost" is practically waving its arms yelling "Look at me! I'm a ghost!"

I'd have to disagree.

[Purple Octopus]

I'd have to disagree.

Yes, we get it. You think the pic in your signature is the most awesomest picture ever and no one else should post pics of their own photo manipulation. This thread is not a contest. It is about Jesse showing us his work. Don't like it? Feel free not to post in this thread anymore.

Edited July 19, 2013 by phantasia

[*Frank*]

Yes, we get it. You think the pic in your signature is the most awesomest picture ever and no one else should post pics of their own photo manipulation. This thread is not a contest. It is about Jesse showing us his work. Don't like it? Feel free not to post in this thread anymore.

Err... no. I like the pics posted in this thread. I never mentioned the picture in my signature which, incidentally, can't be found in the photo manip threads. I was simply saying that anyone who likes these pictures can find similar ones in the other threads. Don't like being wrong? Feel free to stop saying stupid things.

[scowl]

I'd have to disagree.

Why? I didn't find any that were half as chilling as the Wen Town Hall Ghost fake. That was brilliant and took years for someone to figure out.

[*Frank*]

Why? I didn't find any that were half as chilling as the Wen Town Hall Ghost fake. That was brilliant and took years for someone to figure out.

I seem to remember a couple of 'ghost peering through window' photos from one of those threads that I thought were pretty good. It's all a matter of opinion though, of course.

Nice work anyway, Jesse.

[JesseCuster]

Oh come on guys, some of the ghost pics I found in the previous ghost manipulation threads were good. Of course lots were crude and not very impressive, but there were several pretty well done and creepy ones I really enjoyed.

No need for the antagonism.

[Purple Octopus]

Err... no. I like the pics posted in this thread. I never mentioned the picture in my signature which, incidentally, can't be found in the photo manip threads. I was simply saying that anyone who likes these pictures can find similar ones in the other threads. Don't like being wrong? Feel free to stop saying stupid things.

You're right, I was out of line and sincerely apologize. Jesse, please carry on.

[scowl]

Oh come on guys, some of the ghost pics I found in the previous ghost manipulation threads were good.

Can you point me at these? All I'm finding is either poor Photoshop jobs or impressive works of art that are obviously posed and aren't intended to be scary.

My all-time favorite has to be the Amityville ghost boy!

The most likely explanation is that it's just a kid wearing glasses. They had a large infrared light set up in the hall (note the shadow of the handrail against the wall) and the camera was unattended taking shots at regular intervals. But it's still spooky!

There's a long thread on it at the amityvillefaq.com site and it's amazing how many people are totally convinced it's a ghost only because it scares them. Almost no one has suggested a mundane explanation.

[JesseCuster]

My all-time favorite has to be the Amityville ghost boy!

The most likely explanation is that it's just a kid wearing glasses. They had a large infrared light set up in the hall (note the shadow of the handrail against the wall) and the camera was unattended taking shots at regular intervals. But it's still spooky!

There's a long thread on it at the amityvillefaq.com site and it's amazing how many people are totally convinced it's a ghost only because it scares them. Almost no one has suggested a mundane explanation.

I saw that before (I think on this forum). People said it's real because there was only the photographer in the house at the time. Was that ever verified?

I agree with you. The supposed glowing eyes are most likely just light reflecting off his glasses.

Edited July 22, 2013 by JesseCuster

[Jennifer_P]

I saw that before (I think on this forum). People said it's real because there was only the photographer in the house at the time. Was that ever verified?

I agree with you. The supposed glowing eyes are most likely just light reflecting off his glasses.

Lol, you can clearly see the glasses. Though glasses or not that photo is creepy.

[scowl]

I hope no one gets in trouble here, but the admins at amityvillefaq.com have made it 100% clear that this higher resolution image is 100% copyrighted by someone who wants to publish it in yet another book on the haunting/hoax. You can't even link to it there. The lower resolution image has been frightening people for decades and is all over the Internet.

I can't imagine why they wouldn't want the whole world to see it's just a kid wearing glasses!

The awkward position of the head has a good explanation too. The kid is sitting on the floor in a room just off the stairs peeking through the door which is partially open. Since it was infrared equipment and film, he may not have known the camera and flashes were going off.

As for who was in the house. someone finally admitted that they may have been on the second floor when the camera was shooting every sixty seconds. It's hard to say because the photo wasn't discovered until years after the investigation (obviously they were meticulous detectives!). Several investigators were running around the house doing things and it was not a controlled situation.

[JesseCuster]

Creep at window.

[Sakari]

Yes, we get it. You think the pic in your signature is the most awesomest picture ever and no one else should post pics of their own photo manipulation. This thread is not a contest. It is about Jesse showing us his work. Don't like it? Feel free not to post in this thread anymore.

What a jerk.