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Marby Noffki

Smile for the camera

June 20, 2008 | Comment icon 2 comments
Image Credit: sxc.hu
The history of ghost photography is a chequered one that goes as far back as photography itself. Early photographers very openly took advantage of this new medium to create spirit photos for the bereaved, as well as for those that wished to be photographed with the recently assassinated Abraham Lincoln. This was big business in the early days, and extremely simple to accomplish given the time needed for exposure, as well as the ignorance of the public regarding photography at the time.

As the world grew a bit more sophisticated and it was shown that these spiritual photographs were little more than a crude hoax, this sort of photography fell out of fashion and was rightfully frowned upon. After all, taking advantage of the bereaved is a pretty low thing to do, and faking ghost pictures does nothing for serious parapsychology research. However, the concept of photographing a ghost has come a long way, for there are many pictures, some famous, even more not, that do show anomalies which merit investigation. Every professional ghost hunter goes into an investigation armed with a camera or they probably would not bother at all. Spirit photography has earned its place in serious investigation, but there is still much we have to look out for when examining an anomalous photo, because the goal is to find truth in the photo, not be fooled by light, shadow, and imagination.

Whether one is trying to capture a ghost on film or not, there are a few rules to follow once you’ve found a suspected ghost:

Camera Straps:
Very often, a camera strap will get caught in the frame. In the developed picture, it looks a lot like an anomalous streak that people very often mistake for a ghost. If you look closely, however, the camera strap phantom is easy to spot. In St. Augustine, Florida, I very happily snapped a dozen pictures of a cemetery on a windy day, only to find that not only had the camera strap gotten in the way of most of them, but so had the tip of the wide collar of my coat. For a split second, I thought I had hit the jackpot, but when I realized how careless I had been, I could have kicked myself.

Light/Shadow:
Unless one is a professional, or has the artistic streak required to take awesome pictures, light and shadow can make a lot of things look ghostly in a photo. It is important to discount any tricks of light when examining a suspicious photo. For example, my aunt had a picture of the front of her infamous haunted house shortly after it was built that looked as though there was someone standing in the front window. Upon closer examination, we found that the tree in front of the house had cast an odd shadow, and because it is human nature to create patterns where they do not exist, it was years before anyone realized that the anomaly was not anomalous at all. Once found, however, the pattern created in the mind is dissolved, and we can’t even see the vaguely human shape in the window anymore.
Smoke/Cold Air:
Often, if anyone is smoking in the vicinity, those wisps will look pretty spooky in a picture, particularly if the photographer is the one smoking. Flash captures the smoke and lights up the entire picture to make it look as though the whole of the other side has decided to be in the picture.

On a cold night, when one’s breath is like smoke, the same affect can be produced.

Orbs:
When will people get it through their minds that orbs are bits of dust caught in the flash? I have a great picture inside the Edward the Confessor’s bedroom that is riddled with orbs. All that tells me is that this room is dusty. Orbs are not ghosts. I don’t care how many faces seem to appear in them, and I don’t care how haunted the area is supposed to be. Orbs are not ghosts. I have gone to many a web site boasting incredible ghost photography only to find pages upon pages of orb pictures.

These are the basic things to look at. Obviously, some cases are not so clear cut, and one might need a professional to examine the photo. There are a lot of pictures out there that defy mundane explanation and are probably ghosts. However, jumping to conclusions does nothing to take this area of spiritual investigation seriously, especially considering its dodgy origins.

Marby Noffki Comments (2)


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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by goalienan 16 years ago
These facts are always being posted over at Paranormal when pictures are posted. I'm not into photography, but it's interesting to read what members have to say when anaylzing the photos, and it's great trying to see what is or is not in the picture. Some can be explained, some can't.
Comment icon #2 Posted by MasterPo 16 years ago
Good article.


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