I have some pictures taken recently when I hang out with my friends in an apartment. I've read about ORB before but never encounter or capture before. This is the first time I've seen this kinda thing in my pictures. Need some explaination from you guys. Thanks !

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/Pro...rs/IMGP0118.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/Pro...rs/IMGP0113.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/Pro...rs/IMGP0079.jpg

The second one will no doubt impress those who believe in orbs!

Those are some good orb pictures. I also think the second one is a winner!

OK, here's another question. If let say the circle thing appear due to the lens problem (dirt), can the circle appear behind an object or someone ?

Here's the picture I'm talking about :

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/Pro...ip/IMGP0076.jpg
As you can see, the circle is behind my friend's mouth

In the words of Proximo from Gladiator - "Ashes and dust..."

hi there, theres many discussions on wether orbs are dust or ghosts, its a big argument ahh!

heres a pic showing how household dust looks like when the camera correctly focuses on the area where it is lit up by the flash.

Click for big photo



as for the photo with the orb behind somone, it actually isnt. it looks this way because the dust is fairly faint in exposure compared to that of your freinds face.

so its still in front of him, but you cant see it, as its out of focus and quite faint

Nice pics but I'm not a believer of orbs. Good grief you guys need to slow down on the booze and ciggys!

But for me, as far as being supernatural, still no more convincing than the other two.

Thank you all for the replies.

jonb : I compare the picture posted by you and mine and I found out that the circles are different. I've got 2 pictures, taken just few seconds away and it's on the same position.

Picture # 1 :
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/Pro...ip/IMGP0108.jpg

Picture # 2 :
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/Pro...ip/IMGP0109.jpg

My question are ; can dust appear so quickly ? Or the dust move from one place to another ?

As you see from this picture : http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/Pro...rs/IMGP0118.jpg
It's so obvious that the circle doesn't look like dust.

Please don't misunderstand my question as I just want to clarify whether it's orb or dust/dirt

Thanks a lot for the explanation on Post #4.

Well the photo i posted was to show how dust is illuminated close to the lens, i should have given another to show how it looks normally.

my example i had to shake off a jumper to get some dust so its an unrealistic example of natural dust movement.
There is dust floating through the air at all times, mostly its too small to be seen even with camera flash but there are the odd clumps that are larger, and when these get hit by the bright flash of your camera, they get lit up and are then caught by the camera as bright dots.
they appear to be large and round, orb like because the dust is very close to the lens, and the lens typically on compact cameras will not focus in this area. so you get out of focus blobs.

this is an excellent movie that explains it very well, it does a very good job of explaining what i try to :

http://www.webuilders.co.uk/orbs/orbmovie.html

http://www.starizona.com/ccd/basicstakfocusing.htm

The above link is about focusing on stars which are just points of light, which a dust fragment becomes when hit by flash off a camera.

It also shows how orb like they are when ot of focus.

So, is there any explanation whether spirit orbs does exist ? Or is just dust ? Or it's another unexplained mysteries ?

Interesting...

I hate to put my 2 cents in because I'm sure my 2 cents is getting rather "old". ... But, I think the orbs in all three photos are spirit orbs. The strongest one is in the bright orb showing up in the hallway.

Skeptics have raised good points, as always. As jonb said, it is "a big argument". I'm in the believer camp wholeheartedly.

Of note, the man in the red shirt has an orb on him in two of the pics. I doubt this is coincidence. I have found that some people attract orbs more than others in photos. If I take a photo of my husband outside at dusk, he is often so covered in orbs and spirit material it is hard to see any details of him in the photo.

Also of note, I feel quite strongly that the spirit world, whilst occupying the same space (in a sense) as the physical, is only captured via camera through a window that serves as a 2-dimensional surface like a TV or glass screen. So you are able to see both dimensions at once, but the physical shows a truer depth than the spiritual, which probably is the compromise of capturing the two dimensions at once from the physical realm. And the fact that the orbs and spirits that are being photographed are not seen with the naked eye is because they are not actually "in" the physical. Of course there are occassions in which the spirit (orb or otherwise) moves into the physical world and where we can actually see them there with our eyes and on video film. In that case, they would adhere to the properties of the physical world when seen or photographed and would show true depth by being behind physical objects.

Alisa : Thanks for your comment. I guess you and jonb are right about "it is a big argument" and it's up to a person whether to believe it or not.

As for me, this is the first time I captured this kind of photos. Eventhough I've read about orbs but I still can't make the difference between real or fake orbs. Is there any way to see it ? I suppose this photo :
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/Pro...ip/IMGP0122.jpg
should be a spirit orb.

Of 130 photos I took that night, only 10 photos has the circle. It's kind of scary to me eventhough orbs are harmless.

that looks like a pillow fight righ? lol

nothing better to stir up some settled dust

I think that all of the orbs you captured that are shown are spirit orbs, including new pic. I think with 10 out of 130 photos showing orbs, it seems less likely dust, though to me that is not in question anyway.

The difference between orbs and dust would need to be looked at from a few angles. One is obviously, is there heaps of dust around or being kicked up around the camera? Is the orb symmetrical? For me, but it might not be the same for everyone else, orbs photograph as quite symmetrical spheres. They are usually bright, but not always. The also often have bits of color, a membrane ring, and snakey-bits inside (I read somewhere that someone called them "guts"). On rare occassion, the guts form an intentional smile inside the orb. And I have had experiences where I ask the orbs to show as much energy as they can and immediatly captured the shooting orb look (that also look like jonb's rain photos, but it wasn't raining the few times I got the large shooting orbs).

It does in the end come down to belief. But I think eventually there might be a list of features that distinguish particulate from spirit orbs. Boorite will likely be the one to find this list!

The presence of orbs in photographs are difficult to explain on the surface. However *most* of the time, they are just dust... Orbs in moving film are far more easy to determine what they are. The reason being, in a photograph, it is difficult to exame whether the 'orb' is causing it's own radience, or whether it is being reflected. On movies, this is usually easier.

Orb activity alone is rarely (read, never) enough to claim a haunting or a spirit, but may be a collateral sign of activity.

I'm pretty solidly in the skeptics camp (as you probably guessed), but thought I would toss in my two cents.

Sorry, Alisa but a photo is a 2-D representation of 3-D space. You are making the classic assumption that the man has an orb 'on him'. In reality the partciluate could be anywhere between the camera lens and the person - as its showing as an 'orb' then its a particulate close to the camera. As you know from our other orb threads, I've seen a true spirit orb in realtime - these 'false orbs' are not the same.

The last pics look a little like water on the lens.....Meh, I dont know, Im not sure what I think about orbs.....

true but.
Every single photograph with orbs in was taken Using a flash!! (besides those rendered as lens flare etc)

Surely this rules itself out with what we already know?!?!

If you wanted to rule out the possibility that your orbs are caused by dust you would want to turn the flash off? especially during the day.
Learn how to expose a photograph without having the camera on an automatic setting, try daylight or scene modes or somthing with no flash.

i will try to get all the types of orbs seen and show that they are caused naturally, although different cameras produce different types andi only have 2 cameras to use, but ill see what i can do.

I know what you are saying SW, and I see what you mean that it could be anywhere in between him and the camera (good point!). But I do really think that the orb is intentionally close to him, but you are right, I can't say it is "on him".

I am no scientist or even that versed on physics or quantam physics, etc. Nor do I know much about cameras, so it is difficult for me to fully understand, let alone explain about the interactions between multiple dimensions caught on film. But what I do know a bit about is the spirit world and intuition. Over time, I have had dreams and spiritual experiences that insisted orbs were spirits and led me to the theory that I have outlined. I am, however, aware that this remains my personal experience and opinion, not proof.

As far as the orb that you saw (cool!), I still think that it must have been a spirit that entered our dimension, or you entered it's, or you both met somewhere in between. The reason I think you might have met somewhere between is that sometimes only a couple out of a group see an anomaly. Maybe some people sit that tiny bit closer to the spirit dimension. Or maybe your orb fully crossed over and everyone around would have seen it. Either way, you've seen an orb with your own eyes and I haven't...yet.

We can't "know" that photos taken with close-flash produce orbs caused only by particulate. We do know that it can be particulate (though how often remains highly questionable to me). If my theory is right, then a close-flash is an important component in capturing some orbs.



I look forward to your evidence. Amongst several things I really like about you, jonb, is that you don't just criticize, you test and bring back evidence (and then you criticize ). But really, I do mean it as a compliment.

If you look at the pictures I took in the links below, you can see "orbs" caused by shooting into the sun where no flash was used. Due to the make up of the lens system various conditions can create orbs. If you use your imagination you can see the illusion of a faint face in the close up one caused by light patterns within it

http://www.swimwhizz.co.uk/face.jpg

http://www.swimwhizz.co.uk/lensflare.jpg

May I ask if you used a point and click digital with the flash located on the body of the camera?

The reason I ask this is that I don't think these are "dust" orbs. I think they are a type of lens flare you see with digital cameras that have the flash located on the body of the camera.

I do believe that orbs are spirit energy, however, the number of orb photos captured on film compared to digital cameras is a MAJOR difference. I'm a professional photographer and I have all kinds of cameras in my work including cheap digitals with the flash located on the body to my present Nikon film camera with an external flash.

With the digital I often got these "orbs" in shots just because the flash was located on the body. With my film, no such orbs.

Show me an orb shot taken with a film camera and I might believe it. Digital, no way. And this isn't coming from some skeptic. This is coming from a professional photographer who is giving you an educated opinion based on my own experiences working with many types of cameras in my career in low light situations. I have yet to catch "orbs" with film but I have thousands of photos EXACTLY like these with my digital.

you can get dust orbs on any cameras if you try, ive gotten them with a d70 with flash gun mounted, i know its digital but with my old f80 i would get them too if i was using the mounted flash unit on the camera.

i think the distance of the flash unit to the lens causes the reflection of dust to be even stronger, due to the direct reflection possible (no large angle as you would get with a flash unit and larger lens)

You can usually see if you will get orbs if you look over the top of the camera when you shoot with a compact so you can see the top of the lens and the area in front, when the flash goes off you might see small particals being illuminated like in the shot i posted a while ago.
that might help you who arent so sure what orbs are make your mind up.

i'm all for spririts being real, and photographable but not like this when somthing such as dust can re create them.
to me its like having your freind stand in the frame of a photo, and then get confused when you look at the photo and see somone standing in the picture, (etheral confused with very real life)

But you all have your strong opinions

oh Alisa im a student atm, just finishing a music production course, then probably will look into a course for camera operators, im not sure atm but youre right im quite mechanicaly minded, and want to know how stuff works heh

Good discription Rik13. Orbs act and move lifelike, depending on the air pressure. This is why orbs seem like they follow you. when you move, you stir up the dust.





Here are some examples from my investigation at Salem Lutheran Cemetery. Due to coincidence, the orbs like look it followed us out of the cemetery while we went back to the car to load the images on labtop to get a better view. This allows us to take like 500+ images per visit. This also allows us to what the video cilps from right inside the car on TV. If anything happens, then at least we are there instead of making the discovery after we get home. Global Positioning Devices can be vital to, to indicate the direction you are facing.

The guy in the middle is Chad Miller-Lead Investigator of Ghost Lighters P.I, the others were just other people that were there before we pulled up. They seemed to be intimidated by the cemetery gates. They're not ghost hunters like they say they are if they were that timid.

Last photo is Ball Lightning, which is a orb shaped discharge of electricity from the earth. The ball can change multiple colors for up to 10 minutes as it darts around and vanishes or dissipates into the air.

there should be a sticky post in this topic with each of our opinions / evidence posted so we can show people the post without having to retype the samee stuff over again.

Good idea?

when you sign up to be a member here, the disclaimer should say "please do not post picture of orbs. they are dust particles, thanks"

btw, i have quite a few pictures(from a digicam) with "orbs" in them but it happens all the time, nothing to get your panties in a bunch about.

I'm with JB on creating sticky posts on this On one of the other orb-related threads I posted an article I'd written based on my then 15 years of orb photography research. Yes, we were getting the same orbs on film (negative and slide) media with compact and SLR cameras from 1992 - only research was a darned sight more expensive back then when running 4 or 5 cameras shooting 2 or 3 films per night in each one

Excellent idea!

Here's few more shots that I took just now and this time, it's with different camera.

This picture really gives me a surprise :
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/Pro...rs/DSC01570.jpg

What do you think of that picture?

I brightened the image you have taken up in a picture editor to see the background, and it seems to have been taken outside against a backdrop of trees. It looks like suspended particles ( there are others in the picture if you brighten it up) just that the bright one has caught the flash directly.

The pattern in the "orb" is just like that which appears in any out of focus light source, and is caused by the lens and the make up of the light waves which fall upon it.

To demonstrate this for yourselves, get a pair of binoculars or something, and in the dark look at a tiny light source in the room, like an LED on an electrical appliance, or distant street lamp outside and throw it out of focus untill it looks like an "orb" and watch it for a while. See the changing patterns within it? This should explain some of the faces and stuff we see .

With all due respect to Rik13's opinion, my opinion differs vastly. This is an excellent example of a spirit orb. If it suits you, DeepBluez, continue to snap pictures at night even asking the spirits to please show up for your photos. In my opinion, your connection to the spirit world is becoming stronger with your recognition of these true possibilities, and so now your orbs will show up stronger and with more frequency.

I saw that when contrasting this photo further, there are more orbs and plenty of other very intersting spirit phenomenon/entities. If you are inclined, DeepBluez, have a look at my spirit and spirit orbs photo gallery: http://www.metawake.info/pages/photo_index.html .

What exactly is in an orb? A ghost?

If you look at the link in Alisas post above it explains what some people think they are. If you read above, or on the previous pages on this topic, you will see other opinions, and be able to decide for yourself.

Hey I think I took a good orb pic too. It was during this weird sunset rainbow we had around christmas time. Its on the left but its easier to save the pic and edit it to invert the colours to see it best.

Sunset.

Cool one huh. Even if it is just dust.

I had the most best dream that night too. I dreamt of the lion under the rainbow.

What an amazing sunset! And those two orbs are spirit orbs. They look exactly like the orbs I take photos of, often at dusk (but can get them any time of the day). Excellent photo all around.

Thanks. Its one of the best sunsets Ive ever seen hey. I actually pulled up a chair outside and watched it for ages because it was so pretty. I did see the other orb but its not that clear unless you invert the colours. I also opened the pic using media player so that I could adjust the brightness which also shows them up really well without changing the colour.

i found an image showing how points of light have a 'membrane' around the edge when they are out of focus, im not sure why this happens as i dont really know much about the physics of lens' but im sure somone will know

http://www.eyejar.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/01/276708.jpg

this camera had a lens with superiour quality compared to compacts which probably helps show the points of light a lot cleaner.

and these arent caused by a flash also just light hitting a drop of water.

I can't get the link to work Jon

woops, works now

There is no evidence that I know of that spirit orbs accually exist. Most experts on
the subject agree that they are nothing more than errant dust particles illuminated
by the camera flash. If you need proof, shake a small rug or blanket in the air and
then take a photo of the room. You will find the same orbs in these photos as the orbs
in the pics you've shown us on this thread.

Forget about the orbs. That's an excellent photo of a beautiful sunset!

Agree with both your posts Robert.

Jon, that looks like another good exaple to demonstrate what effects can be obtained with lenses and the effect of focus on light sources, either intentionally or otherwise.

It looks as if the flower, at a guess, has been photo'd with a close up or macro lens, hence the very shallow depth of focus.

Utterly beautiful photo! I love it! However, these water droplets do not look like my orbs other than they are round and transluscent.

And Robert, have you taken a photo of dust that looks like these orbs? If so, I would like to see it.

Orbs can be, and very often are spirits. I absolutely would not waste my time otherwise.

I myself do not have photos that look like these orbs but I have personally seen it
demonstrated on several ocassions. I'm sorry if I've upset you in some way.
It's not my intention to mock your beliefs. I simply told you what I saw and believe.

No worries, Robert. I'm not upset. Thanks for caring though. I just thought you might be referring to some specific photos, since the ones I've seen so far don't look like these orbs, or like my orbs. Here's an example of one of the first orb pics I took that I later realized was connected with a specific spirit/ghost. Meanwhile, please notice the intricacy of this orb.



Here are other good examples of orbs that I have seen no reproductions of:

---->

Thanks or understanding. Interesting photos by the way. I'm not quite sure what
to make of them but it has given me an idea to conduct an experiment to find spirit
orbs myself. Perhaps you could give me a good idea as to where to look.

Curious, my previous reply to this has vanished...
Nice sunset piccy, though it presumably preceeded a wet day? Those two orbs are particulate orbs. They look exactly like particulate orbs - sorry Alisa for paraphrasing your reply