False ghost orbs can appear in pictures for a variety of reasons. We’re running experiments to help you separate them from real ghost orbs in your photos.

We’ve always heard–and believed–that it’s important to watch out for reflective jewelry near the camera lens, and especially near the flash on the camera.

Our recent experiments show that it’s not as much of a concern as we thought.

We tested a wide range of gems–real, glass, and plastic–close to the camera lens and sometimes even in front of it.

As you can see from the yellow topaz in the photo above, it’s not easy to create false orbs with jewelry. Since that stone was highlighted by the flash, it should have reflected light (and created orbs) as lens flares.

We tried round gems–such as the cabochon opal, at right–and cut gems from multi-faceted Tanzanites to gaudy silver-backed plastic stones, and none of them created false orbs.

The only jewelry that created a false orb was a watch that’s decorated with a metallic, reflective face surrounded by small rhinestones. That photo is at left, and it’s the only one with an orb in dozens of test photos.

To get that effect, we had to hold the watch so that the face was resting against the flash and extended towards the lens. It’s impossible to create that same angle and effect while wearing the watch, unless the person’s hand could be seen in the frame.

In this extreme position, the face of the watch reflected the flash and can be seen in the upper right corner of the photo. It also created some very large orbs that wouldn’t be confused with real ghost orbs.

From these tests, we feel that jewelry near the camera flash or lens can be dismissed as a source of false orbs, except in the most obvious situations.

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