Pardon my ignorance, but what are orbs? I understand it’s those round, light things that appear sometimes in photos, I have a couple myself. But what is it that makes you think it’s not just something completely natural? (not that ghosts wouldn’t be natural, but you know what I mean…) And if it’s not something natural, like dust, what do you think it is?

I now nothing about how cameras work, and am really new to the whole capturing-ghosts-on-camera business…I’m having a hard time understanding how a ghost, that is invisible to the eye, could possibly be seen in a photo…Anyone care to explain?

I feel kinda stupid asking this, but I find it very difficult to accept (especially the orbs). It might have something to do with my bad experiences with cameras…The last couple of years I’ve had 3 cameras that simply died on me, for no apparent reason, and a fourth one that refused to go any further than to picture number 15, after that it too would just”die”. The one I’m struggling with now one has a flash that only works when it’s in a good mood… And note that these were all new cameras!

/w

Ummm, the only thing I can think of is that you've got a presence around you that likes to drain batteries. I'm one of those folks that can't wear a watch.
Maybe you can stick a couple of your old orb pics in here & let some folks look at em. There is a post up in the community news section on free photobucket accounts.
Some other folks in here can field the technical questions about cameras, cause I haven't a clue either, I like the disposable ones myself...Good Luck!

I found this little scientific explanation of an orb on Ghosts Usa site- A sphere of electromagnetic energy produced by spirits. Also called a globule -Lol! & I'm pretty sure members will have a bit to say about it too. Hope we can all help some. =)

[ January 25, 2004, 10:19 PM: Message edited by: hallowseve ]

I would post the pics if I could, but I don’t have access to a scanner. Too bad, would have been interesting to see what you thought of them…
One of the photos is really quite cool. It’s from my confirmation, with a long train of us entering the church in white robes…We all have hysterically red eyes, we look almost demonic. And on top of that I, who am in front bearing the cross, seem to be followed by a huge orb, perhaps with a diameter of one meter. It’s not like a regular orb, though, it’s much more seethrough. Kinda like a light-circle.

/w

You know, I've oftened wondered the same thing Wilhelmina. In my opinion, I think that most orb captures can be accounted to something natural, per say, like dust or pollen. It's often hard to tell but usually if your capturing a dust orb there will be a lot of "orbs" in the picture. Something that would be more legit would be a singular orb or something with some substance to it. I'm sure you'll get some better answers from some of the others on the board. I am by no means a paranormal expert. Not yet anyway

I'm not sure why we can capture them on film but can not see them with the naked eye. I know that I've started getting a lot more "orbs" when I started using my digital camera.

I have to agree with Hallow, it sounds like there might be something around you that is draining your camera batteries. I just find it to be quite a coincidence that you've had that many brand new cameras that just stopped working, although I suppose it could happen. Maybe just a streak of bad luck with cameras?

At any rate, I'm excited to see what some of the other Spiritkeepers have to say on the subject. =)

digital camera's for the most part are more sensitive than the naked eye... as we can't see the infrared beam or light from our tv remotes .. but your digital camera can. The part about dust particles that I don't understand is the magnification in their size .. seems they get bigger by thousands of times when captured by a digital camera. Things do exsist whether we can see them or not, Air .. or wind for instance .. we breathe it... we feel it when it entes our lungs or blows on our skin, we see the reactions to it when it moves against the leaves of a tree... wit our powerful microscopes Have we ever seen air? I know I haven't but I know its there. The thing with orbs is .. some are dust, some are lens flares, some are unexplainable. The unexplainable ones ... that get caught with a motion blur or actually moving on video tape ... passing through solid objects ... disappearing or fading to nothing... transforming from a round sphere shape into a foggy mist .. or another shape.. Those are the ones we think could be spirit energy. Those that appear when something happens something that gets your attention... when there is no logical explanation.. when you get the feeling of a presence but your alone ... you snap several pics but only capture one or two in each frame ... and sometimes none with in a halfsecond of taking the previous pic. here I am rambling on and on. My dad told me a scientific fact... that stuck with me ... Energy can not be destroyed.. it can change forms .. but it can't be destroyed. Our brains or .. I think .. more or less our spirits .. are a form of energy... when our bodies die the energy changes form... to an orb? That I do not know. but it does not die

I also think the tons of stuff we lump into the supernatural realm are more than likely very natural. Things that have happened since the dawn of mankind, but because we can not comprehend them or understand or do not want to believe ... we dump them into the twilight zone.

[ January 27, 2004, 08:37 PM: Message edited by: Alan64TN ]

Dust particles floating near the camera lens will look like orbs because they are out of focus, and they appear to be glowing in the picture because the flash illuminates them.

I like your explanation of spirits and the paranormal, Alan. It jibes pretty much which how I think it works. Of course we don't really know, but it seems to be a good theory based on what we do know. We call it paranormal or "twilight zone" because we don't fully understand the human soul or what it's made up of, nor do we really know for certain what happens with it when we die. Perhaps someday we will.

Hello,
I've always been interested in the otherside.I to felt fishie about orbs for some time till I had seen some kind of transparent form around it.To me my personal thought is that it is the main power source for the spirit and it shows up more than the form.Digital may be best to work with but any cam will pretty much do.Good luck in getting answers.
Sincerly,
Graverobber34