Spirit photography has been popular almost since the dawn of
spiritualism and coincided with the dawn of photography as well. Some savvy
photographers worked out how to use double exposure to fudge photographs for
the unsuspecting public. And the public lapped it up. Fake spirit photos are
not a modern age thing only done by someone cluey enough to use Photoshop.
Ghost apps by the dozen are available to download for free for smartphones and
are unashamedly uploaded to social media. Surprisingly there are still people
who fall for them.
The story of the photo usually starts with something like,
"a mate of mine took this photo and sent it to me and swears it's
genuine". Even investigators are not immune to this folly. On more than
once occasion, I have been shown photos on smartphones with the above story and
was expected to be in awe. Of course it didn’t go down well with the owner of the
photo when I revealed that I was an investigator and a photographer myself and
what they were looking at was a fake. Some tried to convince me it wasn't as they
took the photo themselves. It makes me a little sad.
I would like to share with you some very simple and easy to
follow tips you can use to take great photos even with a compact camera while
on ghost tours, investigations or just on a rogue Saturday midnight cemetery dash.
No handheld devices
Forget your smart phones and tablets. While most of them
take pictures with excellent resolution, there is precious little you can do
photographic settings wise to adjust to your environment. Not to mention that
any self-respecting investigator worth their salt will just plain and simple
refuse to give you an opinion on your image, should you decide to send it to
them. Simple and fairly inexpensive compact and SLR digital cameras are
perfectly fine for taking snaps. Some even have really good low light functions
and that means you won't have to use your flash all the time. We all know that
one person on a tour or an investigation who just can't help themselves but
take hundreds of flash photos, ensuring that participants are all but
completely blind by the conclusion of the event. Not cool.
Have the right equipment
A tripod is a must have staple in your spirit photography
arsenal. It doesn't have to be super-duper, weight balanced titanium with an
inbuilt spirit level, you're not photographing for National Geographics.
Inexpensive ones can be acquired online and are lightweight aluminium and will
easily fit into a small backpack alongside your rations for the night, your
torches, spare batteries and holy water. When you take pictures in the dark, whether
your camera is set to auto or you adjust the settings yourself a longer
exposure will required if you don’t want the images to turn out completely
black, if your camera even picks up objects at all. Most camera sensors need
something to hook onto when focussing or measuring for autosettings. Longer
exposure means that even if the camera moves the slightest, you will have a
ghosting effect on your image. This may even be caused if you breathe while the
lens is open or the subject in the frame moves. Yes, even if the movement is
the slightest.
Common misidentifications
Moving lightsources, dust, insects, cigarette smoke, breath
or condensation are often misidentified as spirits on photos. The great orb
debate has raged for a long as digital cameras have been around. Even longer if
you take into account sunflares and lens reflections. At least now, in the
digital age, where images are no longer captured on film negatives, aberrations
on the images caused by incorrect distribution of developing chemicals or a
faulty film strip can be excluded. There are steps you can take to avoid the
above listed artefacts from appearing on your images. Trailing can be avoided
by making sure that there are no prominent light sources in your shot. Someone
holding a torch, a candle, even street lights can be misleading once you manage
to put your images on your computer days later. It's unlikely you will remember
every single details about your environment on the night you took your photos.
Insects are hard to avoid but they will be pretty obvious once you get the hang
of spotting them in your photos. Exhaled breath and cigarette smoke will not
necessarily be visible when you take your picture, but will produce a
distinctive signature on the image. Condensation in or on the lens will occur
if you move between areas of varying temperatures like getting out of a warm
car where you kept your camera and start taking photos outdoors on a cold day
or night.
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