Orbs

Orbs the debatable ghost. The paranormal community debates whether orbs are photographic evidence of the supernatural, with the majority voting against it due to its wide array of natural causes that form orbs in photos and excites many new comers to the field of paranormal investigation. I too got excited when I saw my first orbs and thats what got me started investigating the paranormal. But to all new comers I say when you capture an orb to use the opportunity as a training guide for future photographic evidence that you may capture. Simply upload your photos to your computer and magnify it to the point of over pixelated and study the different orbs. Key to remember is to write down weather conditions, humidity level, and ground content especially when investigating at night. Here on Maui we have constant northerly winds anywhere from 5 to 30mph with limited southerly winds. Although our humidity levels vary there is allot of moisture in the air due to wind carrying moisture from the sea especially during high surf. Not to mention dust, sand, pollen, and moisture from the near by rain forest. So orbs are a norm here on the islands. But almost 99.9% are due to natural causes, only .1% may be deemed as paranormal, so before posting orbs as evidence on your page scrutinize your photo to make sure it's not produced by natural causes and post a enlarged photo of it along with the original so others in the field can verify it as paranormal or not.

A guide to Orbs

This is a guide to the natural causes of orbs.

Dust Orbs caused by traffic. I took notice of being able to see the dust particles in the air that was iluminated by the flash.

This is one of the weird orbs I have taken picture of and still in the process of searching for a cause. As you can see it is a solid sphere shaped orb that is hanging in mid air. I have not known why the camera has focused on it, nor do I know as the exact cause.

2nd Orange orb caught, still single anomaly and still no answer to its cause. Most orbs I have come across is translucent in nature only a few are solid but this is the second sphere shaped I have seen.

Logically single orbs are harder to disprove. Any one may claim that it is a dust particle or skin flake, or even a bug. But since when do we see a single particle of dust, skin flake, or single insect. But notice there are lots of reflective surfaces and chances are it could be light flair from the vehicle, and as you can see the flash goes beyond the vehicle which makes me believe that it is light intersecting at one point.

This is the first Orb I caught with a digital camera, as you can see it's single and appears to have motion.

But what it looks like to me is a lens flair, where the street light meets the light of the flash to create the orb and the light reflects beyond the curb which makes me believe that light bouncing off the curb reflected back at the camera at an upward angle gave a secondary light source giving the perspective of movement.

Lens Flair the other culprit to Orbs.

Lens Flair are more common in photo's where there is other light sources around in front of the photographer

Although nearly invisible to the naked eye light tend to brighten where light intersect, giving a 2 dimentional light source. Add a third light source( IE. Camera flash ) from another angle gives this cross sections a 3rd dimention which iluminates from center of cross section and radiates outward. Giving the orb a nucleus.

To the right is an enlargement of this anamoly.

Some would say it 's a bug, but take into consideration the distance between the camea and the actual anamoly. Can bugs really reflect light at that distance, if so then do we have bugs of that size? The answer is yes, we have what is called a bat moth in Hawaii with wing spans of 6 to 8 inches. Now lets look at what other aspects would help to prove our theory that it is natural in origin. The tree is surrounded by shrubs with an empty lot in back, to the right is a road with dense trees beyond it, that is used as a wild life sanctuary.Last of all there is a street light directly in front of it which is known to attract nocturnal insects.

Pre checking your equipment to get a better understanding in some of the cause to light anomalies in your photo's.

Here are some test's you can run to get a better idea on what may have caused your orbs.

1) After taking photo's wave a bright light around the room and check for dust particles. By looking at the light sidwards you may see dust floating around.

2) Check for open doors and windows to make sure that no bugs could get in by chance.

3) Get to know your equipment by testing it to familiarize yourself with its capabilities.

A) Take a few pictures in different conditions when your not investigating to familiarize yourself with the different anomalies that shows up.

B) Take a small object and photograph it from different distances to see the depth of light reflectivity form measured distances. Also note depth perception so that you as an investigator can judge for yourself if the anomaly is within the paranormal realm.

C) if your not stil sure go back to your location and recreate your investigation and compare it with your previous one.