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Kirlian Or Aura Photography

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I accidentally (honest!) found myself watching "Home Front" on BBC2 last week. For some reason Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and all the other makeover participants all had their 'auras' photographed.

The result was a polaroid photo with a clear picture of the subject, and various coloured blurs over the top.

Does anyone know what equipment is used to take these photos?

If I'm being sceptical, I'd like to know whether the photographer is exerting some influence over the process, or what is actually being photographed, if not.

If I'm not being sceptical, I'd like to know what kind of filter allows a camera to see auras!

Thanks.
 
What I know about aura photography -

I know in some cases (ie, mums) they use a machine (sorry don't know much about it) that costs £2000 (if I recall correctly).
My mum had hers done and what she got back was an a4 photo of herself (head and shoulders) surrounded by green, yellow, greeny yellow, a little bit of blue and the odd tiny bit of white light around her. She also got a computer print-out of what part of her aura was the colour it was and where it was plus what each colour ment.

If I find anymore info on this I will let you know about it.


luce
 
I think it produces some mild electric/static field, as having mine done involved putting my fingers on pads - which reminded me of various first year science experiments to complete electrical circuits. Mine was a tad freaky - massive rainbow blob that was bigger than me. The woman next to me wanted to compare shots, only in hers there were no colours at all, just the empty black background. She wasn't a happy bunny. :D

Not sure of the camera specifications, though. Possibly a large polaroid camera with the exposure gubbins messed with.
 
Aura Cameras

These work is a simular way to Kirlian photography.

The Aura Cameras use a "galvanometer" (I think its called) to measure electrical resistance on the surface of the skin. The measurements are relayed to a liquid crystal display within the camera. The results are a photograph of the subject with a colorful (or not) halo.

they're kinda cool but way over priced ($3000 - $4000) and Kirlian still gives a better looking result.
 
From what I recal, this aura photography is called Kirlian Photography, after the inventor of the camera, I understand.
For more information about the cameras themselves, try this link: http://www.kirlian.org/kirlian.htm
Prices for the equipment is anything from $595 (for the beginners model) to $9698 for the best model. (ouch!!)
I couldn't find anything at HowStuffWorks.com on kirlian photography, but they did bring up a search page on it.
Hope this helps.
 
I had a go on a Kirlian machine years ago in a parapsychology class , it made a sort of halo of two dimensional sparks round your fingers , apparently the teacher once tried it on a heroin addict and there was hardly any sparkiness at all . We did the thing where you cut a leaf to see if it still shows the missing piece in a halo but it didn't work ,
Marion
 
Thanks people, that's really interesting.

Seems like the one that was on TV was one of the liquid crystal ones- just a sort of coloured blur over clear photos of the people.

The Kirlian photography looks much cooler, though!
 
anybody know where you can rent / buy a Kerlean camera in the UK?

anybody know where you can get plans to build one?

anybody ever got their hands on one and if so, what did you put under it?
 
I have no idea I'm afraid, but Kirlian Photography is one of the most fascinating subjects I know of.

Have you seen the photo of the leaf cut in half?
You can actually see it's energy field and the 'form memory' of what has been cut off - weird.

I also seem to recall a photo of a human - the energy field shown corresponded almost exactly with ancient Chinese acupuncture charts showing the energy channels around the body - astonishing.

Does anyone have any links to any of these photos?
 
just done a Google on Kirlean Photography (thanks for correct spelling Quick) and come up with 8,000+ sites. Duh.

inc. this one which sells them from $6,000 to $10,000 - a bit out of my bracket. It also lists a real tome movie type Kirlean which I never knew existed.

http://www.kirlian.org/order.htm

I want to get my hands on one having been fascinated in the phenomenon for years.

have seen some truly astonishing images. The one that sticks in my mind was 2 bits of granite. One taken from a wall at a 'haunted crossroads, scene of a bad coach crash in Ireland, one taken from the same wall a mile up the road.

the mile up road stone had a nice blue / grey aura. The one from haunted X roads had an awful nicotine yellow (the colour of nettle roots) aura
 
What a wonderful site.

First they tell you that:

"All living creatures generate and emit radiations"

The they tell you that Kirlian photography works because, rather than being able to photograph this alleged natural radiation, it "introduces a high frequency, high voltage, ultra low current to the object being photographed"

Then, keeping in mind that "All living creatures generate and emit radiations", they have photographs of bits of quartz.

It is very nice art, but that is all it is.

It is akin to me saying "All livings things have a daub of invisible red paint on their heads.", and explaining that the method I use to photograph it is to daub some red paint on your head and then take the picture.
 
cant agree, Rube.

I aint a nuclear physacist but I think I'm right in saying that all things, animate or inanimate give off some sort of radiation. Granite springs to mind for some reason. The Kirlean camera seems to record something consistantly that we cant see with the naked eye.

there has been much bollocks written trying to interpret Kirlean pics, but they dont work like photos or X-rays in my opinion.

you look at them and you get something back, in much the same way you meet someone for the first time and get an instant, fleeting impression of that person.

I cant explain the feeling (and no, I dont read palms) but then if I could it wouldnt be Fortean, eh?
 
Can't agree? With what the site itself says about the technique?

In order to be able to take a photograph, the technique
"introduces a high frequency, high voltage, ultra low current to the object being photographed"

Can't admit that the site itself says that while it is all "living" things that emit the radiation allegedly photographed, they indeed have photographs of the 'aura' of rocks? Quartz is not a living thing.

You state "The Kirlean camera seems to record something consistantly that we cant see with the naked eye"

Sure, i'll go along with that but, as the site points out what the technique and equipment is photographing is the electrical disturbance that the technique and equipment themselves induce. they are creating an electro/magnetic field which indeed cannot be seen by the naked eye. They get the same effect whether they use the technique on stone or living or formerly living matter.
 
It is very nice art, but that is all it is

is the bit I cant agree with. I didnt write the site copy and I feel they too are missing the point, as you pointed out when you say they talk about life forms giving off radiation then they photograph inanamate objects.

for me its much more simple. The Kirlean records SOMETHING consistantly. Be it radiation, gamma waves or what doesnt matter.

we are looking at something inexplicable, something unquantifiable, something truly Fortean.

the science of it all interests me less than the end result which, until someone can quantify what we are seeing, will be just another of lifes mysteries.

but one we can work for ourselves. Hence my desire to get my hands on a Kirlean
 
A bloke brought an amazing aura photo of himself into the shop today to be enlarged on the laser copier , it showed him surrounded/obscured by three large areas of bright white light edged with turquoise , one area had a clear face in it , apparently the light areas were his two spirit guides and an angel , there were bright points of white light in the pic too . The light areas weren't blobby , more like combed and swept clouds , now I'm tempted to get one done!
 
You can get an aura effect, and all sorts of weird effects come to think of it, if you use a lomographic camera. They're based on old Russian spy cameras, and produce astonishing definition, but with lots of blurring within the definition, and strange colours popping up out of nowhere.
 
Oooh, my thread's come back!

I'll have to find out about these lomographic cameras, sounds most interesting.

I was told a while ago about yet another kind of aura photography- this one uses a normal webcam (I think) and some 'enhancing' software to reveal the aura.

Apparently it works best if the subject is naked.

Has anyone heard about this? It sounds highly suspicious to me.
 
Let me understand this,you cut off a piece of a leaf,photograph the cut leaf & in the photo the cut off part still appears?If that's true,there's no doubt you're actually photographing something other than an introduced electromagnet field!What that something is,I have no clue..but it's something.
 
the usually good, skepdic organisation has a page on the topic:

Thus

an extract:
Living things...are moist. When the electricity enters the living object, it produces an area of gas ionization around the photographed object, assuming moisture is present on the object. This moisture is transferred from the subject to the emulsion surface of the photographic film and causes an alternation of the electric charge pattern on the film. If a photograph is taken in a vacuum, where no ionized gas is present, no Kirlian image appears. If the Kirlian image were due to some paranormal fundamental living energy field, it should not disappear in a simple vacuum (Hines 2003).

There have even been claims of Kirlian photography being able to capture "phantom limbs," e.g., when a leaf is placed on the plate and then torn in half and "photographed," the whole leaf shows up in the picture. This is not due to paranormal forces, however, but to fraud or to residues left from the initial impression of the whole leaf.


damn, i too equate seeing the picture of the "phantom leaf" as being one of the triggers that set me down the fortean path. on the other hand, its always better to keep an open mind on these things.

last thing, you can buy a "kirlian" now for 260USD, here, its small, only big enough to record something, say, the size of a hand. and there are lots of hand photos on the site. the moisture argument may account for it, but the photos are still kind of cool.
 
_TMS_ said:
If the Kirlian image were due to some paranormal fundamental living energy field, it should not disappear in a simple vacuum (Hines 2003)

This seems to be an unsupportable conclusion. If some event does indeed occur with Kirilian photography, then how could we know that a simple vacuum wouldn't disrupt it?
 
Easy. Get someone to stick their hand in a vacuum on the camera.

There may be a way to test it without having to actually expose the hand to vacuum, but I'd need to revise on how the thing works. (Been a while since I looked at it.)
 
Is there even such a thing as a kirlian 'camera'?I got the impression from the site that these were contact prints.Now photography has been my hobby a few years & I happen to have a 4x5 polaroid back & a changing back so all I need is the electrical components.....which I bet could be bought at any electronics store for just a few dollars without paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to someone.Anyone have any idea what one would need electronically?
 
That's what I was thinking. That in order to photograph it you put it on some sort of plate, and then send electricity through it.

As for living things sending out radiation, that is slightly true. Any object emits EM-radiation according to it's temperature. Which for most objects is infra-red. If you heat something up enough, the frequency of the radioation changes to visible colours which is why metal glows red hot. You can see this radiation with an infrared camera, as shown in quite a few sci-fi movies.
Also some things have radioactive radiation. Living creatures would generally have a slight bit of it, due to trace radioactive particles from drinking mineral water and whatnot. Whereas granite would have higher levels, as it consists partially of radioactive elements. I'm sure there must be ways of taking pictures of this, though I don't think that would be a very useful thing.
And then there is the electromagnetic field created by our nervous system and such. But I think you need some rather sensitive equipment to measure that. EEG's and such. Don't think doing photos of that would be possible.

If that leaf thing was possible, you should be able to swap the plates. Take a picture of a leaf on one plate. Then pick it up, cut of a part and then place it on another plate. You'd still get a bit of moisture coming out of the cut of the leaf, but I doubt it would show up as having any distinct shape. If you could do this and still see a while leaf "aura" then it would be something. Don't think anyone has managed that though.
 
Reading about Kirlian photography many years ago, it seemed to me that the process of applying voltage to an object on a photographic plate may have an equivalent biological mechanism between the eye and the brain. Of course it is probably not so straightforward (I make no pretence to understand biology, or the electronics of kirlian photography) but fundamentally as I understand it the kirlian photograph captures images of a corona discharge. Is it this which we call the spirit? Some effects of the corona discharge may seem familiar to some:

Corona discharge is generally undesirable in:
Electric power transmission, where it causes:
Power loss
Audible noise
Electromagnetic interference
Purple glow
Ozone production
Insulation damage
Electrical components such as transformers, capacitors, electric motors and generators. Corona progressively damages the insulation inside these devices, leading to premature equipment failure. One form of attack is ozone cracking of elastomer items like O-rings.
Situations where high voltages are in use, but ozone production is to be minimised
Static electricity discharge

Kirlian photographs show a definite continuation of the energy of a leaf even after it is biologically dead, I doubt anyone has tried this with a dead body but it would be interesting to know how long the 'aura' remains, or indeed if it remains (there's no physical weight to subject it to the laws of gravity after all, well maybe about 21 grams.. The erratic nature of ball lightning would perhaps bear some resemblance to an energy field of this sort).

Forgive me for again stepping into the realm of pseudoscience here, but my proposition is that those who claim the ability to see spirits may in fact be more highly charged in some way or some part of their brain, and thus able to perceive what the kirlian photograph does. Surely the ever advancing technology of digital photography can make some sort of improvements in this field, perhaps a camera that does not require contact, or has greater sensitivity, or perhaps even a kirlian movie camera?

The 'God Helmet' episodes suggest that stimulating certain parts of the brain can increase some sense of an outside 'presence', maybe with refinement more definite visions can be made, and independently corroborated. People who take hallucinogenic drugs often report seeing the exact same phenomena, although it is generally argued that they are subject to the same influences and suggestions.

If this theory on the corona holds true then maybe a corona ring can be the latest weapon in the realm of ghostbusting? Again forgive any major faux pas here and my lack of scientific understanding in general..
 
Back in the 1970s, one of the Fortean staple topics seemed to be Kirlian photography.

I have to admit that back then I was oblivious to the fact that high-tension electricity was being used to facilitate (create?) the images themselves.

So rather than any intrinsic 'aura' just being recorded by a contact film emulsion process, perhaps all that was being seen was an ionisation/discharge process creating photochemical correspondances....or was it

In any case...it is a topic that I feel is long overdue for review, both here and in another place.

Has it (like much of the Fortean photogaphic canon) fallen victim to the literal and unforgiving accuity of digital image acquisition and it's subsequent malleability?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirlian_photography

Are there any digital Kirlian pictures out there?

All responses, thoughts and comments, as ever, are welcome.

(ps I donate my £5 (notionally-awardable for reanimating a thread that has been slumbering for nearly 12yrs) to Fortean Memorial Home for Deprecated Deities....with your support, Odin will be able to get a new stair-lift, and Kali will get replacement batteries for that fetching-little mobility scooter)
 
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Thanks for that link @EnolaGaia (I do like Instructables as a site, it never occurred to me that there might be a practical guide to Kirlian photography there).

The author John Iovine even appears to have expanded his guide into a full book on Amazon-
2017-12-04 20.11.43.png


So much for dotted outlines of removed limbs and leaves....it all (analogue / digital, the whole 'technique') appears to be very mechanistic and artful, rather than mysterious and actual.

Only in retrospect do I now realise that I saw resonances, in the '70s, between Kirlian pictures and the (then extremely-popular) fashion of pin&thread psychedelic wall-art. Many people on this forum will immediately see what I mean....and many will say "What?"
$_86.JPG

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-...ail-Art-Picture-Metallic-Thread-/202108071695
s-l400.jpg
 
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When a tree spoke to me through the radio* a few years ago I'd been thinking of it in terms of Kirlian photography; the tree had been cut down, but according to what I'd read in the past, its shape would still be there in a form of energy which you could photograph with the right equipment.

*Yes it did! :chuckle:
 
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