The Star Experiment - Orbs Explained [Article Discussion]

[Observer]

Hi
Admin has raised an interesting subject that may explain some of the reported UFO sightings on photographs.

A few years ago i took a photo of a fox in my garden through the bedroom window. The camera was a Canon EOS SLR and i was about 18 inches away from the glass. When the pictures arrived back after processing, the picture of the fox and garden were totally blurred, but i had a lovely sharp image of of a dirty window. I had inadvertantly left the camera on 'auto' focus. It had focussed on all the dust and dirt particles on the window.

If a lense is a bit dusty, some of the cheaper digital cameras that can only operate on auto focus will focus on the dust. Due to the dust being too near the auto focus sensors, they will appear out of focus and come up as blobs or orbs.

Better quality digital cameras give you the option of manual or auto focus and it may pay you to stick it on manual focus for certain pictures.
Even on manual focus, if the lense is dusty or has marks on it, these will be picked up (some times) even when the lense is set on infinity.

A dark sky at night will send the auto focus sensors 'hunting' as there is often nothing of substance for them to latch on to.

Always use manual focus set at infinity for night sky pictures.

Observer

[Georgie]

Hi,I stumbled on this site while looking for info on the DERA airbase in Wales.It also happens that some years ago I took the best orb photo I've ever seen on a non digital Nikon compact camera at Dusk (too early for stars) and without any flash.
The photo was taken at a south London cemetary I was photographing for reference material for an art project.

I was photographing a pathway in the cemetary.I took several snaps of the view one after the other.I didnt use a flash as I wanted to capture the ambiance and natural colours.

On developing I initially stuck the orb image in a drawer thinking there had been a development error.I had never heard of orbs.2 yrs later I stumbled across the phenomenon and remembered my pic.I found it and scanned it at high resolution.The detail is fascinating.The object is spherical,perfect with a pale shadow showing round volume and tiny whispy tendrils all around the outside.The negative also shows the object in the sene.The orb glows intensly which is incredible given no flash is used and this is clear from the picture.

As stated this pic was taken at dusk on an autumn eve,over cast and too early for stars so this explanation doesnt apply in my case.

I'll scan the image again and post soon.

[Andy]

I have only seen three orbs with the physical eye. All were about the size of a ten pence piece. I did question if it was a trick of the eye, but they looked so real and very brightly coloured. The first time was at work, in a building known for strange phenomenon witnessed by many. It was electric blue, came in through the open window and went out the open door of the room. The second was in Rendlesham forest with Brenda Butler. I said to her 'Can you see that orb in the trees over there.' 'Oh yes' she said 'A red one.' I had not said a colour but yes what i had seen was red also. Therefore i thought two peoples eyes, couldn't be playing trick on them, surely? The last time happened a few weeks ago in my living room. It was bright orange, came through the open patio door and went through the hallway door? I can't explain it, but they certainly looked very real. Eerie.