"Orbs" in photos, fake or real?

First off I would like to say that I know next to nothing about the apparent phenomenon of "orbs" in photographs. A friend of mine told me that when you take a picture, that spirits/ghosts/whatever can manifest in them as "orbs", similar to how sound artifacts aka EVP show up when recording in the vicinity of ghosts/spirits/whatever.

Anyway tonight I stumbled upon a facebook page that had posted some pictures of an alleged haunted cemetery, and many of the pictures have "orbs" and one even has what looks like some red eyes (if you assume that 2 red dots are "eyes").

My question is, is it possible to fake the orbs in these pictures? Let me rephrase, since anything is possible...Have orb pictures been faked before, and its it commonplace? What do you think of these?

For the record the source of the images is Facebook, at www.facebook.com...

I don't want to subject anyone to logging into facebook to view them, so I downloaded a copy of them and put them in an ATS gallery: media.abovetopsecret.com...&action=list_photos&album_id=14002

Here are a few of the more interesting ones:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cd462fe85152.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e6236ee60606.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3103ea0b46d0.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4e1027de4bc8.jpg[/atsimg]

To me they don't look like much more than motes of dust or even soap bubbles, but as I said I have no experience with this sort of thing so I am just posting this to see what you all think.

Note: This is NOT any sort of advertisement for whoevers facebook page that is, I know nothing about them, as I said I just stumbled onto the page, and I transferred the pictures to an ATS gallery so you don't even have to go to FB unless you just want to verify the source for some reason.

EDIT: for some reason the links to the FB page and my image gallery did not link properly, here they are, cut and paste and change the x to a p:

httx://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=159836&id=117617198272211
httx://media.abovetopsecret.com/my_pictures&action=list_photos&album_id=14002

[edit on 4-6-2010 by Blazer]

[edit on 4-6-2010 by Blazer]

its *possible* some orb photos are real, imho.
BUT the vast majority are easily explained, so much so that its almost not even worth investigating...
better to find apparition photos or evps...

oh...and my explanation for your photos:
dust. water droplets.

theoretically the orb should emit its own light and usually not pure white. it would be visible, usually, with naked eye as well as with camera and the path would be erratic. not floating...as dust might do.

but even then...most are illusions caused by a multitude of things...

[edit on 6/4/2010 by double_frick]

reply to post by Blazer


You are right in calling dust, that's exactly what we're seeing in those photos. I used to get them all the time on paranormal investigations AND in normal photos. Here's one I took which shows just how many orbs you can get from simple dust:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/285274abe5a9.jpg[/atsimg]

The orb phenomenon I think does untold damage to the paranormal theory's public image. Many people think its insane for grown people to believe in ghosts but some of the craziness I see people post about orbs

1) that they are definitely paranormal
2) that they are spirits themselves
3) that you can see faces in them and these faces aren't just our brains seeking patterns

Orbs are not paranormal, at least I have yet to see one on photo or film that wasn't debunk-able as dust, dirt, a hoax, or a bug.

99.9% dust..... slight chance of one of those particles being an actual 'entity'...but there's really no way to tell one from the other.

So I'm guessing that the "big" orbs are just dust particles that are out of focus, due to the camera focusing on something more distant.

EDIT: not just out of focus, but also bloomed out due to fuzziness and white balance issues from taking a pic in the dark.

[edit on 4-6-2010 by Blazer]

Originally posted by Blazer
So I'm guessing that the "big" orbs are just dust particles that are out of focus, due to the camera focusing on something more distant.

Here, this may shed some light on why 'orbs' appear as different sizes (or appear at all) on some photographs......I hope..........

Diagram 1
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/74b99feba7cf.gif[/atsimg]
*Point A represents the camera lens inverted focal point (the point that an object must be past to be in-focus), and B represents the way light travels into the lens. The dust particles that are closer than point A will be out-of-focus, and appear as false-positive dust orbs.

(Click here)

Diagram 2
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8a53c1911c16.gif[/atsimg]
*Point P represents the distance the dust particles are away from the camera lens, and A again represents the camera lenss inverted focal point (the point that an object must be past to be in-focus). This diagram shows how dust particles become out of focus as they get closer to the camera lens.

(Click here)

Diagram 1 is a representation of how dust in front of the camera lens appears orb-like when a flash is used. "B" represents how light travels through the camera lens and "A" represents the focal point of the lens, or the point objects need to be past in order to be in focus. As you can see, there are dust particles closer to the lens than point A; therefore the dust will appear out-of-focus, as seen in Diagram 2. When the flash fires (Diagram 1), light is reflected off the dust, back into the camera lens, causing the dust to be illuminated. Because of the angle of the flash and the camera lens, the closer the flash is to the lens, the more prone it will be to dust orbs. The same applies for using nightshot video cameras, the IR light reflects off the out-of-focus dust, causing them to look like "orbs" or plasmoids.

I want to emphasize the fact that orb-causing dust is floating in the air in front of the camera lens, and is not actually on the lens itself. It seems that many people think that wiping their lens clean before each photo session will solve the dust-orb problem, but this is entirely false. The truth is the dust is in the air, floating close to the camera lens (within about 6 inches normally), and there is no way to solve the problem through lens or site cleaning.

(Click here)

[edit on 4-6-2010 by Rising Against]

Dust.

Orbs should be filed in the HOAX section, next to rods. Who came up with the idea that dust particles reflecting light from a camera flash were "entities", anyway? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Even stupider than chemtrails.

This is a pic I took a few days ago:
Only one orb in the picture. Not in a dusty haunted place, no oustide moisty/rainy weather, no pollen, no insects. LOL.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/89dba0aeda7a.jpg[/atsimg]

I guess you can all have different opinions/theories on this.

But I think SOME orbs are "manifested energy" (not spooky ghosts) captured by the camera.

I guess it is always possible SOME may be real but in the photos that have more than three, it is my personal opinion that it is unlikely.

Orbs are nothing more than reflected light bouncing of dust particles or airbourne water particles. This happens more so with hi definition cameras. Nothing paranormal about it at all

Here is a quick test all y'all can do.
(all y'all = plural form of y'all)

Grab your digital camera, hold it out with one hand and aim it at your sofa.
Using your other hand smack the hell out of your sofa and quickly take a photo of the dust particles that get released on impact.

I guarantee you will something very similar to photo in the 3rd post above but only if you happen to use a flash.

Do the same using a spritz bottle and you'll get slightly different results

I would like to believe these orbs are paranormal in nature, but I really think they are nothing more than dust and moisture particles.

Still, it would interesting to know if there are any pictures of these "orbs" taken before the era of digital camera.
A good nice kodak moment showing a big fat juicy orb would convince me otherwise.

I shot this "orb" photo at Bobby Mackey's famous haunted roadhouse in Wilder Kentucky. Yeah, it's dust, but it does look like the ghosts are having some good ol' fashion Saturday night fun with the locals.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/257f7234e7be.jpg[/atsimg]

Originally posted by Alxandro

Still, it would interesting to know if there are any pictures of these "orbs" taken before the era of digital camera.
A good nice kodak moment showing a big fat juicy orb would convince me otherwise.

I have 3 photos of orbs before the "era of digital camera".- like u said.
The common thing they have is that I am in all of them.

I'm certain they are NOT dust particles. Even in a lot of pictures I have with the digital of me- there are a lot like the one I posted above. In some same size.Yet different colours

But just my belief anyway................
Not really trying to convince anyone otherwise.

[edit on 5/6/10 by plutoxgirl]

Orbs in photos are moisture or dust and very easy to reproduce. I've got a ton of pics like this from attics, caves and many outdoor pics. Overlapping orbs, orbs within orbs, even orbs that look like faces, etc... Nothing at all paranormal about orbs in pics.

reply to post by plutoxgirl


Is there any way you might be able to post your pics?

Since you happen to be the common denominator in these images you've mentioned, were you going through anything traumatic during that time?

Originally posted by Alxandro
reply to post by plutoxgirl

 

Is there any way you might be able to post your pics?

Since you happen to be the common denominator in these images you've mentioned, were you going through anything traumatic during that time?

Hello Alxandro,

I won't upload any other picture. My intention is NOT to prove that SOME Orbs are - manifested energy.

I'm just stating here what I think. Like everyone else does. People can take it or not, belive it or not, it doesn't really matter.

I uploaded just one photo for the ones claiming orbs are only dusty, moisty-rainy weather, pollen etc. Because in that picture those conditions are not met.

You asked if anyone had other pictures of orbs before the digital-camera era, and I replied, I did. And by the way- I was not going through any traumatic event when those non-digital photos were taken.
Of course, you don't have to belive me, yet I'm not claming anything outrageous.

Sorry but I don't intend to prove anything otherwise.
Just my 2cents about what SOME ORBS are in my belief.


[edit on 6/6/10 by plutoxgirl]

I think that around 95% of "orbs" are dust.

However, there is that minority of compelling images that clearly show something more than dust.