The Big Orb Thread

[liveinabin]

Dust.

Give me a duster and I can create them on demand.

 

[Anome]

Photographing them on demand is one thing, but can you not photograph them on demand also?

What I mean is, can you deliberately take a photo that will not have any orbs in it at all? And then take one that does immediately after?

I have a copy of the photos of Esc with orbs here, and they were created on demand, and were created in the way she describes.

 

[escargot]

The photos which Anome has seen, of me with artificial 'orbs', were produced with the aid of an assistant blowing bubbles and, I think, scattering glitter.

I found them fun to do - ASSAP did them free at Uncon 04 - but the 'orbs' themselves lacked that out-of-focus quality so necessary to genuine orbs.

 

[PeniG]

I'm in an orb photo! I've always thought it kind of strange (since I find the dust explanation convincing) that out of all the digital photos I put into appraisal reports over the last nine years, none of them had orbs, but now I've got one of my very own.

I was at a writing retreat this weekend and one of the other participants just sent her photos of it around. In the very first one, showing me sitting adjacent to our Big Name Mentor, there's a big honking orb on my right wrist - it looks like watch lens glare, but you can see my watch on the other hand. There's a smaller orb on the carpet between us, and some of the other pictures had orbs in them, too, but I got the biggest one by far.

The location is a retreat center in the Hill Country of central Texas, about 30-40 minutes from my home in San Antonio. It consists of two ranch-style houses thrown together in one of those "rural subdivisions" - not one of the obnoxious ones with the big ugly houses, but with the big lots and the ranch-styles lining the tortuously winding road along the creek, probably dating back to the 60s (though I didn't check). It's mostly used for spiritual retreats, with yoga mats rolled up in the common rooms and books in various religious traditions lying around. The group was restricted to published writers, a lot of us already knew each other, and the energy was high, the quality of work presented and critiques given was good, and the atmosphere relaxed and happy - in the picture, BNM and I are both laughing - so if I didn't believe in the dust theory I could easily spin you a yarn about it. Alas, I'll have to leave that to y'all.

Excuse me for not posting the picture; I don't know how BNM and the picture's taker would feel about my unleashing it on the world in this way. And don't tell me I'm being paranoid - the capacity of innocently posted pictures of this type to turn up on the blogs of strangers next to headlines like "BNM attracts angel orbs?" or "Ghosts attend writing retreat" cannot be denied.

 

[norton51]

There's an account of the Orb Zone Theory here that accounts for the known facts about orbs.

There is also a set of 'frequently raised objections' (like a FAQ) to the theory here that should answer most of your questions.

 

[rynner2]

Many people wil have noticed that I haven't bothered to post on this thread...


Oh Drat, I just did!

 

[ArthurASCII]

Has anyone noticed how Orb threads seem to spontaneously appear on this message board? I myself have witnessed multiple instances of this strange phenomena.

My theory is that these strange occurrences are linked to the type of browser in use by the poster.

I myself, use IE7 and have never started an Orb thread but, while experimenting with Firefox, I felt a strange "Orbishness".

Have any other posters encountered similar experiences?

 

[Anome]

Didn't someone do an experiment where they managed to exactly reproduce the appearance of Orb threads on the board on demand just by spraying their computer monitor with dust or water droplets?

 

[volfie]

I'm in an orb photo! I've always thought it kind of strange (since I find the dust explanation convincing) that out of all the digital photos I put into appraisal reports over the last nine years, none of them had orbs, but now I've got one of my very own. [..]

Was a flash used to take the photo?

 

[jefflovestone]

Has anyone noticed how Orb threads seem to spontaneously appear on this message board? I myself have witnessed multiple instances of this strange phenomena.

My theory is that these strange occurrences are linked to the type of browser in use by the poster.

I myself, use IE7 and have never started an Orb thread but, while experimenting with Firefox, I felt a strange "Orbishness".

Have any other posters encountered similar experiences?

Have you checked your fans or heat sink for dust?

I use the OrbBlock extension with Firefox and never see orbs. Although I do occasionally get spam saying I will 'never please her with a small orb... guaranteed results... try LargeORBXXX'.

 

[PeniG]

Was a flash used to take the photo?

It was indoors, so presumably. All the orb photos at the retreat were taken with the same camera and indoors, so I'm assuming it's the old dust-in-the-lens-flare game.

 

[volfie]

Was a flash used to take the photo?

It was indoors, so presumably. All the orb photos at the retreat were taken with the same camera and indoors, so I'm assuming it's the old dust-in-the-lens-flare game.

Yes.

 

[welsh_rune]

I've done some experiments and what is interesting is ive taken a burst of shots and some contain orbs and then a second later the picture is totally devoid of orbs. Whatever they are I believe them not to be dust as they move too fast.

 

[norton51]

I've done some experiments and what is interesting is ive taken a burst of shots and some contain orbs and then a second later the picture is totally devoid of orbs. Whatever they are I believe them not to be dust as they move too fast.

See http://www.assap.org/newsite/articles/P ... 0orbs.html

Look at the question "Q:I got lots of orbs in one photo and then none in another taken just seconds later - surely dust can't do that?" a little way down the page.

 

[welsh_rune]

thanks mate. Yeah I read what's said. its certainly something to consider although I can categorically vouch for there being no wind in the place, its totally enclosed.

I still cannot understand how in todays modern scientific world, they cannot prove that this phenomena is or isnt dust. Surely somebody can bring a transparent huge box to a haunted place and photograph the thing to see if orbs manifest themselves in the box. Surely that would be a simple experiment?

 

[escargot]

S'dust. Tiny particles that're unvisible to the naked eye but can be picked up by the lens, especially with the flash.

As we can't normally see the bits of dust, we have no idea how fast they move, or in what direction. So in a series of snaps we can't be sure that we're seeing the same bits of dust moving about or several different ones.

Same with videos of 'orbs' - they're an artefact of the lens, constructed from dust.

Constructed from dust. As are we all. :lol:

 

[rynner2]

I can categorically vouch for there being no wind in the place, its totally enclosed.

If there are people in a room, there will always be air currents, from their movements, from their breathing, and from convection currents caused by their body heat.

And unless all walls, the roof and floor, and all windows are at exactly the same temperature, the room itself will have convection currents.

And any furniture and fittings will cause turbulence in these airflows.

And then there is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion

(If it wasn't for all these movements, all the dust would settle out of the air. So dust, etc, in the air is always moving.)

 

[TheOrigDesperado]

I've done some experiments and what is interesting is ive taken a burst of shots and some contain orbs and then a second later the picture is totally devoid of orbs. Whatever they are I believe them not to be dust as they move too fast.

How fast does dust move? Assume a slight draft of 0.5mph (say, from people moving about or a tiny gap under the window frame). That means a particle of dust will travel about 9 inches in a second. If you wait 5 seconds between shots then that particle could well have travelled half way across the room. The depth of focus region necessary to produce orbs is relatively small so it's almost inevitable that dust will come and go faster than you can take the shots. And that doesn't take account of shifting camera position, light conditions, etc.

I still cannot understand how in todays modern scientific world, they cannot prove that this phenomena is or isnt dust. Surely somebody can bring a transparent huge box to a haunted place and photograph the thing to see if orbs manifest themselves in the box. Surely that would be a simple experiment?

You can't really do that because it's practically impossible to exclude dust from anywhere; even a cleanroom has dust.

More to the point, however, you've got things the wrong way round. We know dust can produce orb photos and there is no evidence that orb photos are caused by anything other than dust. Therefore, until such evidence is produced, the only sensible thing to do is go along with the evidence we have, which is that all orb photos are the result of dust. Otherwise we could prove 10,000 photos were the result of dust only for someone to say, "Ah, but this 10,001st really is a ghost."

 

[theredmeanie]

Here's a simple experiment:

Wait until it's dark and foggy. Grab digital camera. Turn on flash. Take photos of fog.

Orb central.

 

[norton51]

If you actually WANT to take photos of orbs then try the following: take flash photos with a digital camera (ideally a compact model) outside at night. Don't aim for any particular subject. That way the flash goes on for as long as possible as it tries to illuminate a subject that isn't there. If possible, take photos during rain (though taken from shelter to protect your camera from water). This method is practically guaranteed to produce orbs. You might well get those nice tailed ones if it's raining. This method maximises all the factors required to turn insects/dust/rain into orbs.

This is what orb 'enthusiasts' do. Why, is a much more difficult question to answer.

 

[GNC]

http://www.lep.co.uk/weird/Graveyard-vi ... 3705863.jp

Graveyard visitors capture 'ghostly face' image

Two terrified orb spotters caught on camera what appeared to be a ghostly figure rising out of the ground in an old graveyard.

Tracy Hesketh and a friend got more than they bargained for when they went "orb spotting" at a Lancashire graveyard.

They ended up running from St Saviour's cemetery in Bamber Bridge after seeing what they believed to be a ghostly figure standing before them.

But the ghost hunters did manage to take a few photos before darting to the safety of their car.

Tracy, who lives off Blackpool Road in Lea, Preston, said: "We went to the old graveyard. This full figure just stood up in front of us. We managed to get the face, then we just ran."

The 38-year-old went on to say: "We have a picture of it forming from the first mist. It's like a person climbing out of a grave.

"Then, in the next picture, it's a full thing ... it's a face. It was too close to us to get the full thing."

As the pair returned to their car at around 10pm last Monday, they described seeing about three figures in the mist with orbs around them.

Can you make out a face within the mist?

Tracy's friend said: "I was a bit cynical but to me this is proof. Everyone agrees they are amazing photos."

Asked if they were going back in search of more ghostly apparitions, Tracy said: "We have been too scared to go again!"

* An orb in the ghostly sense is often defined as the soul of a once living person or animal that appears in photos as a spherical-shaped light.

Convinced? Difficult what to make out what it is, really.

 

[norton51]

Orb spotting in a graveyard! The things some people do for a laugh!

The mist in the photo is almost certainly their breath caught in the cold night air by the camera flash. It happens a lot with digital cameras.

 

[Dingo667]

I hate orbs, I laugh at orbs and yes I do believe they are no more than dust.
Now, we went to Paris and into the Catacombs. My idea was to photograph some orbs by willy nilly taking a flash photo into the tunnels ahead of me.
Nothing happened [even though people were walking constantly ahead of us] but then at one spot it did, yippeee I got some orbs and nice ones at that, they had a pattern in them.
I seem to remember a post here somewhere about someone just like me who doesn't believe in orbs being ghosts having caught some that also had patterns in them. I tried to find that post but to no avail.
Does anyone remember?
Cause if they do I'll post my orbs [as boring as it may be...].
These are nice, I promise.
Didn't catch anymore after that and wasted a lot of memory taking a picture every 20 metres or so. Still.
Where is that post?

 

[OldTimeRadio]

There's an experiment which shouldn't be terribly difficult to carry out, which would most likely decide this "dust mote" business once and for all. Moreover there's bound to be numerous members of this board capable of performing it.

Take photographs in a sterile lab. If "orbs" continue to appeear they're almost certainly not caused by dust motes.

 

[AsamiYamazaki]

In about 4,000 photos, I've only ever had one orb photo which i'm always meaning to upload just because i love the way it obscures my mother-in-law's face

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/Lo ... -56-26.jpg

My friend visited recently and took 900 photos, of which only one had an orb in. The fun this time was that it was in Greyfriars Kirkyard and there were these brick alcoves housing tombs (I think), one of which I was really really reluctant to go into. When my friend asked me to come in and take her pic, I decided not to say anything as she'd think me a chicken. When we started looking at the photos once we'd transferred them onto the pc, I told her about my discomfort. Then, the relevant pic turned up, and voila, the only one to have an orb on.

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/Lo ... 0_1475.jpg

I do think orbs are a pile of b******s but I am fond of these.

 

[Dingo667]

Ok, they are actually not THAT good but what the heck. Here are the only orbs in the Paris catacombs I could catch:

I still think its only dust but nevertheless.

 

[rynner2]

There's an experiment which shouldn't be terribly difficult to carry out, which would most likely decide this "dust mote" business once and for all. Moreover there's bound to be numerous members of this board capable of performing it.

Take photographs in a sterile lab. If "orbs" continue to appeear they're almost certainly not caused by dust motes.

Alternatively, create artificial dust, and see if that creates orbs:

As I posted on the original Orbs thread....

http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... 003#121003

In fact, newbies should read that whole thread, because I can't be bothered to repeat myself, yet again!

In fact, this daft little thread could be merged into the earlier one...

..or deleted entirely!

 

[Dingo667]

Rynner, could you guide me to the original orb thread as I am still looking for the posting of the person who had similar orbs as mine and I'd like to compare them. I am totally useless finding what I want on this forum.

P.S I hate orbs as much as anybody but I do think my ones look quite nifty. Don't get angry about silly orb threads, it isn't good for your health...

edited for spelling

 

[rynner2]

P.S I hate orbs as much as anybody but I do think my ones look quite nifty. Don't get angry about silly orb threads, it isn't good for your health...

I know, I was having a bad day yesterday!

The link I gave is in the main orb thread (on Page 6 of about 25!)

 

[Dingo667]

Ah thanks I got what I wanted from that!
I agree we should merge these two threads, discussing orbs is somehow similar to talking about the inside of a golf ball for hours... :?