Debunk Paranormal

Paranormal photography tips

Lets look at basic night time photography tips.  Remember this is just a basic guide as all cameras will vary slightly. You may still need to experiment to get the correct settings.

Flash:  some cameras allow you to adjust your flash strength, I suggest turning it up all the way to increase your depth of field.

Night scene or night shot, some cameras have this and if your using a tripod fine but without one you stand a great chance of blur or light trails because night scene gives your camera a longer exposure time.  Many mistakes are made here.

Exposure is the time your aperture is open.  What happens in many cases you take a picture, your flash goes off and you lower your camera. Well many times your camera aperture is still open so  the picture will show light trails or blurring of the brighter objects.  You should not use a long exposure UNLESS your shooting off a tripod.  Hearing is very important when taking pictures at night.  You need to listen for your camera to finish a picture before you move it.  I have seen many pictures claimed to be paranormal that were up to 8 seconds  exposure times. YOU WILL GET MOVEMENT unless shooting off a tripod. The longer your exposure the more movement in your picture becomes see thru.  See those claimed apparition on the internet where a person is see through? Its movement with long exposure. See light trails? These are long exposure.

Exposure is measured by f-stops  Remember the lower the F-stop the more light your camera lets in.

F1 being largest F 64 being a pin hole  Now your camera may be limited so select a low setting so more light enters your camera.

ISO:   ISO speed affects the shutter speed / aperture combinations you can use to obtain correct exposure.  The higher the ISO the more pixilation you get.

Now using a flash at night you want an ISO that is appropriate. 400 to 640 are good all around settings. If you have a 12 mega pixel or higher camera you can even go up to an 800 ISO.  Do not go higher unless your shooting off a tripod without a flash. Also do not drop to a 200 or 100 ISO unless your shooting off a tripod WITH flash.

Foreign objects in your picture, when using a flash any foreign particle, from lint to pollen, even moisture appear as objects in your picture if they are near your lens, they often give the illusion of being further away from the lens. Remember your shooting in 2D. Many small point and shoot cameras catch a sleeve, a finger even camera straps or lens cap strings  in the flash. These appear as a bright objects often reported as ghosts or a vortex. But once again understand your equipment. 

Shadows:  Many times a dark shadow or spot is misperception. A finger blocking a portion of a flash will appear as a dark shape. When taking pictures an object off the side can appear as a larger shape when the flash creates a shadow. I have seen a vase as a cowboy.

Always try and pay attention to your surroundings. Take control shots with the lights on as a reference.  When taking pictures at night take a couple from each position so you have another picture to reference.

Most digital cameras have an exif file attached to your pictures. They explain what settings your camera had. You can look at these to see if a flash went off, your ISO, your exposure time, your f-stop along with many other settings. We are only looking at the basics as we aren’t professionals.  Windows 7 allows you to see photo properties. Photo shop paint shop, and many other software allow you to look at your Exif. Photome  is a great FREE program to to view your exif.

I hope this will help you understand and take better photographs at night.

Paranormal Mist?

Are you capturing mists in your pictures?

Are they spirits?

They must be paranormal as I don’t see it with my eyes.

Someone died in the home it must be them.

I was in a cemetery it was full of spirits.

These are just a few of the things I see daily in the paranormal field. Hopefully I can answer some of your questions and help you understand what causes these.

First we will look at mists captured inside a home. What can cause these? First we will look at exposures on your digital camera. A long exposure can create a mist like appearance. Why else do we see mists or are they really mists? Lets look around a home, we see lots of highly reflective surfaces from windows, mirrors, chromes, glass tables, vases. A flash off many of these can create what looks like a mist on your digital camera.

Now lets move outside what can cause these mists in my pictures? Once again there can be a few causes from atmospheric haze, yours or another’s breath, to temperature changes. When its cold out we can see our breath, but when its warmer we don’t see our breath does this mean it isn’t there? No we can still capture it with a flash.

What else can cause mists? These are perhaps the least understood by paranormal investigators but they are easily explainable and with critical thinking and COMMON SENSE we should all know it. Lets look at a cemetery, there are open areas the sun hits all day, there are trees and shrubbery that shades the ground, we have many tombstones that absorb heat all day.  In the daylight its warmer in the direct sunlight and cooler under the shade of a tree, this creates an atmospheric haze anytime your temperatures vary from 3-4 degrees you may catch a mist. Lets look at this same scenario at night just the opposite takes place its cooler in the open and warmer under the canopy of trees once again ideal situations to capture mists. Lets look at high humidity, what is it? Moisture in the air once more something your flash can reflect off.

Now don’t take my word for it get out your digital thermometer and take samples of the ground, of gravestones, under trees and shrubs, you might be surprised. Now break out your Hygrometer and check for the humidity in the air. Its only after you can rule out all of these causes then you can say I MAY have caught a paranormal mist.