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The History of Ghost Photography



During the last several years ghost photography, has made a major change. 

Even in the earliest years of photography, there was the appearance of Ghosts.  some of the more famous ones would include images like Raynham hall spirit of Dorothy Walpole of East Anglia, England. 


The Raynham Hall Spirit 

It seems that for the first several decades of this type of photography, the ghosts always had a definite human or animal shape. 
Photographs from this period usually had some sort of translucent figure that would include a floating head, eyes, arms, face or even a complete figure. 

Usually photographs of spirits were taken by using several different techniques.  The different kinds of techniques are.  Using a device to trip the shutter when there is a sound, a change in light, a change in temperature or electromagnetism, or by when the photographer saw something. 
  
  

Ghost photography in the past several years has become something different. 

The latest ghost photos no longer include images of human or animal shapes, but now they have orbs and vortexes 

Some samples include images taken by a new breed of ghost hunter.  This new photographer does not use the traditional approach of trying to capture an image by taking photographs randomly in a haunted location. Usually without even researching the history of the haunt. 



These newest photos have been taken with digital high tech equipment, that has yet to be certifiable to its ability to generate images that are not influenced by other sources, such as interference from other digital equipment, standard camera flashes, different sources of interior lighting and household appliances. 

Some of the high end digital cameras have reasonably good resolution, but they also cost $5,000.00 to $30,000.00.  The cameras that are being used to take the majority of the ghost photos are the very low end $99-$500 range that are not capable of recording high quality images. Most of these cameras save the images as .jpg files, this means that the image has already been compressed and that parts of the image have been thrown away to be interpolated later by whatever program they will be viewed with. 

Some traditional ghost chasers have been labeled skeptics by this new breed of ghost hunter. 

I personally feel that there is Something out there and we need to do as much research as possible. 

We need to take an open minded approach but still have the ability to look at the evidence and examine it without a over zealous approach.  I think that one of the current problems in this field is the want for the researcher to see an image in a photograph. This can cause people to misjudge images and see things that just aren't there or can easily be explained by natural conditions or occurrences. 

I have done some research using digital imaging on some ì orb ì photographs, by placing a 
lens flare caused by a simulated flash in the same general area as the flash in the original photograph and this was the result. 


Some ghost hunters claim that all of us that question the use of digital cameras and the validity of orbs have no experience in the field of digital imaging.  I have over 25 years experience in photography, 14 years in professional lab experience, and worked for Kodak for 4 years as a technician and manager of their worldwide digital imaging testing and production center.  So its not without years of field experience that I make the Previous statements. 

Please feel free to e-mail the R.M.P.R.S. your comments or photographs, we will always try to help and approach things with an open mind.