Orbs are translucent circles or spheres that appear in photos and videos. When we can’t explain them, those orb sightings are often considered paranormal.
In addition, some people see orbs in real life, not just in film. To them, the orbs seem to be floating in air. However, the vast majority of people [...]

Orb sightings can be very exciting, especially if this is your first orb or if the photo is very unusual.
At least 95% of orbs are seen in photos, not in real life.  At right, that’s an unretouched photo of an orb.
Some believe that cameras – especially digital cameras – are better able to detect unusual [...]

Ghost orbs are a controversial topic, even among believers.
Most of us agree that at least 90% of orbs can be explained as refracted light from moisture, reflective surfaces, insects, pollen or dust.
Some of us believe that the remaining 10% (or so) are unexplained –  called anomalies — and indicate possible paranormal activity.
Skeptics fall back on [...]

Orbs can appear anywhere.
They appear to be floating or gliding energy forms, so they can be anywhere at all.
We’ve heard reports from people who successfully ask orbs to move to certain locations for photos.  For example, they tell the ghost to move the orb over a particular doorway or gravestone.
(Generally, we only ask ghosts to [...]

original photo (unretouched)

scanned image, outlined

 
We took the photo on our webpage, Ghost Hunters – Ecto and Smoke, as part of a controlled experiment. We were demonstrating how smoke can look like “ecto” in photos.
However, although this picture was not taken in a “haunted” location, we wonder if the spirits are [...]

We often see photos that claim to display ‘ectoplasm’ but actually show smoke. Even if someone had been smoking 20 minutes earlier, smoke particulate lingers in the air and can reflect light. This is easy to confuse with genuine anomalies.
Here are some results from our initial [...]

Ghost orb pictures are among the most popular evidence of hauntings, and orbs can be the easiest subjects for beginning ghost photographers.
Some people seem to attract ghost orbs more than others. We’ve known ghost hunters who never see orbs in their photos, but they get great EVP… [...]

Ghost orbs are the most popular evidence of hauntings. The question is, how can you capture them in photos?
We often say, “go with your gut feeling.”
But, when you’re new to ghost hunting or ghost photography, that may not be enough. You may still be learning what a reliable [...]

In ghost photography, one reliable measurement tool is a phenomenon that we call sparkles.
When we see sparkles, we’ll usually find anomalies in our photographs, too.
When ghost hunting, we’ve seen sparkles with several flash cameras, but most often with my old Olympus AF-1 Twin camera. You may have seen sparkles with your own camera, too.
In ghost [...]

False ‘ghost orbs’ and anomalies can happen to anyone, even professional ghost hunters.
On damp or rainy nights, most of our photos include false anomalies. (We take photos anyway. After all, we might capture something genuine in our pictures.)
But, many of the photos that we receive in email are clearly false orbs. That’s not the fault [...]