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Orbs..yay or nay?

Apparently, "orbs" have the amazing ability to force amateur photographers to take crappy snapshots using the cameras that come with their $39 cell phones.
 
Orbs are a result of bad optics, a flash, and fine particulates in the air. Nothing more.
 
This is so obvious, come on.

1.) Camera strap
2.) Piece of dust
3.) More dust hit by the camera flash
4.) H2 level poltergeist incarnation from a dimension unknown.

Next!
 

That's the camera strap getting in front of the lens.


That's a piece of dust on the lens.


That's also a piece of dust on the lens.


That looks to me like a reflection off of something shiny in the room, such as someone dangling their wristwatch-laden arm in a sunbeam, combined with a long exposure due to the room being dark.


ETA: Damn, kosai beat me. But notice we came up with much the same diagnoses.
 
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The first "orb" I ever experienced was a few years back. We were taking photos in what was supposedly a haunted cave (Bell Witch cave.. they modeled the storyline for Blair Witch based on this IIRC). In the view-finder it looked very odd.. got them back to my PC where we could look at them full-size.

Still looked a bit odd, so I did some research and what do you know.. several pictures and videos producing almost the exact same results with simple dust or snow.

We were a bit weirded out at first glance, and I think thats where most of the claims of something paranormal come from... people get that first eerie feeling and then run with it.
 
Better than just describing these I decided to go on a ghost hunt on my own. You might want to submit my findings to the paranormal researcher. These were all done using only the camera, no post production work was needed to create these effects.

ghost1.jpg

Ecto foot!!

ghost2.jpg

Ecto with orbs.

ghost3.jpg

Orbstravaganza!

ghost4.jpg

Dancing boy ghost!

ghost5.jpg

Relaxing spirit
 
Better than just describing these I decided to go on a ghost hunt on my own. You might want to submit my findings to the paranormal researcher. These were all done using only the camera, no post production work was needed to create these effects.
[qimg]http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/16/ghost4.jpg[/qimg]
Dancing boy ghost!

[qimg]http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/692/ghost5.jpg[/qimg]
Relaxing spirit



OMG what is it doing on the couch?! That's obscene!
 
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I'm not home, so I can't post it, but I have a wonderful orb picture taken with my cheap digicam. It was so juicy that the lately banned "historian," an expert on the genre, declared it a genuine paranormal bigfoot orb. Isn't it an amazing coincidence that the age of orbs so closely follows the age of point and shoot cameras that default to daylight flash?
 
Remember mirror telephoto lenses? All the little light toroids they created?

Spirit doughnuts.
 
Forget the paranormal researcher and just send them to Montel:

Kosai: Sylvia Browne, what is that pink stuff on my couch?

Sylvia Browne: That's pink ectoplasm, of course.
 

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