Photo taken in one of DIEPART's member's homes showing orbs.

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Orbs are a very controversial item in the paranormal investigation field. The hard fact is that most, if not all, "orbs" are caused by water droplets, dust, snow, rain, etc..

A common misconception about dust orbs is that it is dust actually in the camera or on the lens. This isn't true, in fact, dust orbs are caused by air-born dust particles directly in front of the camera lens.

Below is an in-depth article on photographic/video analysis and contamination factors that cause false-positive orbs. Please note that the following applies for any camera with a flash (35mm & digital), and all nightshot video cameras.

Cameras and their flash cause probably about 99% of all Orbs.


Some common characteristics of dust orbs in photographs may be showing some sort of nucleus, elongation around the central axis towards the edges of the photos, a rectangular or octagonal shape, but is not limited to these.

Elongation around the central axis towards the edge of the photo is caused by a lens curvature error known as "Coma", cameras with very small lenses and short focal lengths (such as digital cameras) are more prone to coma than other cameras with longer focal length lenses, such as SLR cameras.

Orbs of a rectangular or octagonal shape are caused because of a phenomena that can be defined as "When an object with a similar shape as the aperture of the camera lens is brought out-of-focus, the object will begin to take the shape of the aperture". In other words, if the aperture of the camera is an octagon (the aperture is the hole that opens to let light through the lens), an out-of-focus dust orb will begin to take the shape of an octagon, particularly towards the center of the image.

Another common phenomena that is often mistaken for something paranormal is called lens "Flare", and occurs when a bright light source (most often the Sun) reflects off a portion of the lens, and creates "ghost" images (not really ghosts, but internal reflections) of the aperture of the camera. Generally, flare can be ruled out of most photos taken at night, but can be a problem with shooting pictures during the day.

(Diagram 2), this representation is how dust in front of the camera lens appears orb-like when a flash is used. (Diagram 1), This represents how light travels through the camera lens, and also 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 therefore the dust will appear out-of-focus, as seen (Diagram 2). 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

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 .

There is nothing paranormal about the dust orb phenomena, it is natural to any camera with a flash and any video with a light source that isn't in front of the camera (ie, infrared light). It seems that many groups still consider dust orb photos to be paranormal, because they don't want to take the time to collect REAL anomalous data. What keeps these groups holding on to the dust orb as phenomena is the instant gratification they get by collecting hundreds of so-called "spirit orbs" in a single night of investigating.

The truth is no matter what the environment, there are always air-born particles in the air (except in a vacuum...) that can contaminate your data. You can sometimes even see the flash reflect off the dust particles when a picture is taken. Also, this phenomena isn't just limited to dust, it also applies to rain,
water droplets, bugs, etc.

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Photographic Analysis: Orbs
This article was updated on 8/4/04 Lately, my email inbox has been inundated with mail from excited investigators, both experienced and amateur, who believe they have captured a paranormal anomaly on film. While their excitement is exhilarating, more often than not, I find when I open the attachment and look at the picture, I am immediately let down. It seems that recently, we have all become a little too eager to capture evidence on film and, in our haste to substantiate, we overlook some of the most basic factors when analyzing our own images.

So, it is in this light that we decided to run a series of articles based on how to debunk your own images so that when you present them to the public you are not only providing REAL evidence, you are also maintaining your credibility.

Ok, with that said, we will start off by talking about some basic things to look for when you are looking at a picture with an orb/globule in it. There are 4 possible causes for an orb to appear in your image and they are as follows:

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1. Refraction of a dust particle.

Oftentimes the tiniest particle of dust will reflect the flash of your camera or the infrared light of a digital camera producing a stunning orb that most investigators would drool over. Now, the most popular excuse for claiming that it is not dust is; "But, all the other images had no orbs in it. Only this one". Well, that is because it was only one particle of dust and it is most likely still there in the other photos but it is just not at the right position or angle to reflect the light of the camera flash again.

So, the question remains, how do we know when it is dust and when it is a true orb? Dust tends to refract in a perfect circle with little "noise" in it and no border. By this we mean that the orb does not look like a cell under a microscope. Its make-up is pretty much a solid color without a defined border to it.

2. Refraction of moisture.

This is a little bit easier to spot. An orb caused by moisture will tend to have angular sides to it and its make-up tends to fade from solid to transparent. Once again it has no border. And like the dust particle, moisture can appear in one photo and not in another that was taken immediately afterwards.

The larger the moisture the less angular it will look. A picture of rain drops will yield very little angularity at all. In fact it will produce small solid looking object that can easily be mistaken for orbs. A fine mist will produce angular sides.

3. Reflection of an object.

Ok, I must say that this is the most common mistake made and usually the easiest to spot. If you have an image with multiple orbs in it and one is more intense than the other, then, chances are, you have a reflection.

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Here is why. When light reflects off of an object it produces many circular "flares" in an image. These vary in intensity and are usually located within a straight line emanating from the source, which is usually some small object in the background that is overlooked by the investigator when reviewing the image. The objects can range from a small ring on a nightstand to the varnish on a table or door.

If you have Adobe PhotoShop, you can take an image like this, run its gamma to near max and you will see that the orb will have the same gamma signature as the object from which they are emanating.

Also be very careful of camera straps they sneak up on you and wa laa a vortex or something strange that just looks paranormal.. This is why we ask our investigators to please take off the straps to eliminate this chance of a false positive evidence..

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4. True paranormal energy.

Now we're talking. Once you have eliminated the above possibilities, it is time to take a good, long, close look at the orb itself. What you are looking for in "orb" activity is a solid object that emits its own light. It will usually show up on film looking like someone just threw a ping-pong ball across the screen. If the orb has signs of movement, such as a blurred trail behind it, then you've got some rather solid evidence.

The other characteristic of orb activity that we consider is the coloration of the orb. True orbs are colored in the "cool" end of the spectrum, namely white, blue, or green. Any orb activity that shows up as red, orange, or yellow, it typical of dust, light refraction, or processing error.

Here is a shot of a orb on the pool table like a another pool ball hiding..

But remember, and orb is just a collection of energy not the manifestation of a ghost. While orbs are usually present during paranormal activity, you can have orbs show up without paranormal activity.

"Orbs" are a natural phenomenon and can be witnessed with little difficulty in all regions around the globe.

So, next time you are flipping through your case pics and find a big white orb staring you down, take the time to really analyze the picture, find the orb's true origins and then present it to the world and be confident that your credibility will remain intact.

HERE IS A PICTURE OF WHAT WE

BELIEVE WOULD BE A REAL ORB AT A FARM

HOME IN EASTERN IOWA

The owner hearing heavy walking in the hallway snapped the above picture as the sound got louder... and closer to the room he and his wife were in that night...

Real orbs... at least the ones reported from eye witnesses are almost all alike. They seem to be all lighted round objects such as bright  light bulbs..

Orbs can be different colors and different sizes but they are usually brilliant white light..

A few DIEPART investigators have seen marbled sized green LIGHTED ORBS floating at the Granger house...

From the Spinner house the owner saw  many floating light orbs in her bedroom and they looked like baseball size orbs all floating above her head..... In the photo above you can see a  SOFTBALL SIZE ORB IN A HALLWAY IN EASTERN IOWA...

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