We’re not sure how often this happens in ghost hunting.  It’s definitely worth noting if you’re analyzing ghost pictures.

Here’s a clear example.

Against a light background, the entire [...]]]> In our recent tests, we were amazed to discover how often a camera strap could look as if it was floating against a dark background.

We’re not sure how often this happens in ghost hunting.  It’s definitely worth noting if you’re analyzing ghost pictures.

Here’s a clear example.

Against a light background, the entire length of the camera strap would be visible. However, against a dark background–such as at a haunted cemetery–it might not show up, or look like a shadow.

We’ve shown other examples of camera strap ‘anomalies’ in two other articles from our experiments.

Ghost vortex or camera strap?
Strange shapes and camera straps

If this camera strap wasn’t silvery and textured, this could look even more like an anomaly. Most camera straps are smoother, and usually black. That makes them only slightly less reflective, according to our tests.

Here are some other examples of ‘floating’ camera straps.

Note especially the picture at the far right, which probably wouldn’t be identified as a camera strap during most ghost picture analyses.

If you’re a serious ghost hunter, we recommend testing your own cameras to see what the strap could look like in photos.

To get the ‘floating’ effect, the strap should be peeking out from beneath the camera lens.

The shadow of the hardware around the lens–and/or the camera body–usually causes the camera strap to look dark, translucent, or entirely invisible.

In our another article, Ghost vortex or camera strap?, we showed a variety of vortex-like images made by stray camera straps.

But, that’s not all we discovered in our experiments.

At left, there is a very strange shape [...]]]> Ghost pictures can be real, fake, or the product of simple mistakes.

In our another article, Ghost vortex or camera strap?, we showed a variety of vortex-like images made by stray camera straps.

But, that’s not all we discovered in our experiments.

At left, there is a very strange shape that seems to wrap around the patio railing. Part of the figure seems in back of the railing, and the rest is in front of it.

That’s the camera strap, and it’s entirely in front of the railing. In fact, it’s at least two feet closer to the viewer than the railing is.

If we hadn’t been using a tripod during this experiment, the shape could have been more blurry, irregular, or a different color. It might even look like a ghostly figure passing through solid matter.

This shows that, unless it’s highlighted by the flash, the camera strap can look translucent or even invisible in some areas. (Click photo to see it larger.)

At right, the sky appears to be lit up, or as if the subject was a mountain range against a light sky.

Again, this is the camera strap. In this photo, it’s at the top edge of the camera lens.

Its irregular, sometimes translucent edges make it difficult to identify as a camera strap. We talk more about this in another article, Ghost pictures and ‘floating’ camera straps.

At left, the yellow trash can isn’t haunted, and that’s not a vortex leading to it. It’s the camera strap.

Though all of these are odd looking photos, none of them are likely to be mistaken for ghost pictures.

However, as we pointed out in Ghost vortex or camera strap?, the context makes all the difference.

The photos below show what we’re talking about.

Like you, we’ve seen similar pictures online, represented as ‘ghost vortex’ photos.

We’re not claiming that they’re fake, or that they aren’t ghost vortex photos.

We’re hoping to emphasize the importance of knowing where your camera strap is when you take ghost pictures. That’s the only way that you can state confidently that a vortex–or other eerie anomaly–is real.

A ghost vortex–defined by some as a line that indicates an active passageway to the ‘other side’–can be thrilling to discover among your ghost pictures.

However, if you aren’t careful about camera straps, you may not know if it’s a vortex or something far more mundane.

Important: This article is not intended to [...]]]>

A ghost vortex–defined by some as a line that indicates an active passageway to the ‘other side’–can be thrilling to discover among your ghost pictures.

However, if you aren’t careful about camera straps, you may not know if it’s a vortex or something far more mundane.

Important: This article is not intended to ‘debunk’ all ghost vortex photos. This article is about the importance of keeping camera straps out of the way.

These first two (at right and above) aren’t ‘real’ photos. I Photoshop’d each of them using camera strap pictures and cemetery photos. The orbs are the only real anomalies in these two pictures.

(All of the other photos on this page are real and not retouched or altered.)

I did this to make a point: Our test photos were generally taken on my patio, avoiding any real anomalies.

However, if you saw these same pictures with a creepy house or cemetery in the background, you might think that they each show a real ghost vortex.

Like many ghost hunters, I used to look for aclear entry and exit points in the frame of the photo. If I could see one (or two), the photos probably wasn’t a ‘vortex’. It showed a camera strap like the picture at left.

If there was only one connection with the edge of the photo, I considered it a possible anomaly… even a vortex.

I wasn’t being critical enough.

WHAT WE LEARNED

Hardware around the camera lens can cast a shadow on the camera strap so that it appears to vanish.

It can have just one visible contact with the edge of the photo… or it can appear suspended, like the photo at the bottom right, below. It can also appear translucent, or seem to be in back of a solid object.

The following are some of our test photos. None have been altered in any way, except to scale their dimensions–which were kept proportionate–for this display.

Imagine any of them blurred so the texture of the strap was less obvious.

Imagine any of these with a gravestone or ‘haunted’ site in the background, or with the ‘vortex’ pointing towards a friend in the picture.

It could look pretty convincing …even scary.

When you take photos, loop the camera strap around your wrist if it’s short, or around your neck if it’s longer. That’s the only way to prevent confusion about vortex photos.

All of these photos were taken with a FujiFilm FinePix A345 digital camera. For more results of our camera strap experiments, see Strange shapes and camera straps and Ghost pictures and ‘floating’ camera straps.

That’s not some fiery anomaly intruding on our photograph. It’s one of three photos with bright orange splashed across them, at the end of one roll of film. The auto-rewind in our new Canon camera didn’t fully rewind the film, and our photographer opened the back of the camera, exposing the [...]]]>

When you’re taking rolls & rolls of film, it’s smart to note anything that could cause a false anomaly. When you get your pictures printed, you need to know what’s a “real” anomaly and what’s easily explained.

Note: This is a different roll of film, taken at a different photo session, from the one with a fiery anomaly over the leaves at Gilson Road. The one with the leaves was in the middle of the roll, and the bright color is only in the frame, not splashed across the entire strip of film. (The clear difference is on the negative.)

However, if you’re trying to sort what’s real from what’s fake online, this is another example of having to discern the integrity and expertise of the ghost hunter.

The two “fiery” photos look very similar. Only one of them is real, and only the photographer could point that out.

In order to identify anomalies in particularly dark photos, we scan them and use one of our graphics programs to increase the contrast, brightness, and saturation. Sometimes we can see more that way. (Our photos online are not enhanced, unless noted in the descriptions.)

When [...]]]> These two photos were a huge disappointment.

When our first night photos at Gilson Road included the enhanced photo on the right, we were thrilled. These white swirling masses resembled the “sparkles” and “after-the-fireworks” images we often see. We were certain we’d caught the ghostly energy on film.

A daytime visit to Gilson Road confirmed our suspicions, as we checked for gypsy moth nests, which might have looked the same on film.

Nope, no gypsy moth cocoons/nests.

We were doubly delighted that these photos now appeared genuine, because the “sparkles” are among the coolest phenomena we witness on ghost hunts.

However, a later photo at Schoolhouse Cemetery, on the left, showed an identical “anomaly.”

Our good spirits (so to speak) crashed. We hadn’t captured the sparkles, after all.

At first, we were afraid that there was something wrong inside this camera. Closer investigation revealed a few fine splotches of white paint on our scanner screen, from the Edinburgh “ghost story” paintings.

The clear lesson is: Carefully monitor every step of the process, when you’re sorting out what’s an anomaly and what isn’t.