Environmental Issues Surrounding Outdoor Photography

By Paul Bradford

First and foremost the thing to remember is there is no secret, no magic formula to producing the perfect picture every time. The only way your going to get better is practice. Whether your indoors or outdoors there's some basic things to take in to account and that's the Environmental Issues, for example light, weather and surroundings these are all things that once you've observed will help you produce a better picture. Know your Camera!

When dealing with paranormal photography there is no rule book and no idiot's guide, there is no such thing as Professional Paranormal Photographer, so it's up to us to develop the art and make it a recognized form.

The Basics

In principal, a digital camera is similar to a traditional film-based camera. There's a viewfinder to aim it, a lens to focus the image onto a light-sensitive device, some means by which several images can be stored and removed for later use, and everything is fitted into a camera body.

In a conventional camera, light-sensitive film captures images and is used to store them after chemical development.

Digital photography uses a combination of advanced image sensor technology and memory storage chip, which allows images to be captured in a digital format that is available instantly. The picture quality of a digital camera depends on several factors, including the optical quality of the lens and image-capture chip, compression ratios, and other components. However, the most important part of image quality is the resolution. The more elements (mega pixels), the higher the resolution, and the greater the detail that can be captured.

Getting a good digital camera, does not make you a good photographer.

Dust 'n' Bugs

Love them or hate them your going to see them crop up in many of your pictures, and not always as an "Orb". You can get what looks like a shower or even something that looks like a string of light, this all depends on your exposure time and the strength of your flash.

That's one of the main reasons we take more than one photo of each location, by creating duplicate images (snapping two or three photos) we have something to compare or refer to, I look at it like a 'Spot the Difference'. It can take a keen eye to identify the small differences but that's the fun bit. Also by uploading your photos to a host (Photobucket.com) it gives the rest of the team the opportunity to perhaps see something you may have missed.

Also to think about is movement, by you and others. As you move about your stirring up dust, visible or not you could unknowingly stir up a blanket of dust giving you a shower effect once you review your pictures. And if by you slowly walking about you get a blanket of dust in front of your lens, then think how even a light breeze will effect your photo.

Orbs

Wikipedia.org states:

The term "orb" is the popular name given to typically circular anomalies appearing in photographs. In Spanish language they're commonly referred as canoplas. In photography and video, orbs appear to be balls, diamonds, or smears of light with an apparent size in the image ranging from a golf ball to a basketball. Orbs sometimes appear to be in motion, leaving a trail behind them.

There are two main schools of thought regarding the cause of orbs in photographs. The first school sees it as a fairly clear-cut case of flash reflection off of dust, particles, insects, or moisture droplets in the air in front of the camera, i.e. they are naturalistic. The opposing school maintains that orbs are paranormal in nature, i.e. non-naturalistic and ghost like.

Some people claim that paranormal orbs are more likely to appear in certain locales, or are attracted to human activities, especially those involving children. The images on the Internet devoted to orbs are taken in graveyards, backyards, attics, and kitchens, living rooms, as well as bars, convention centers, and city streets, in short, anywhere people may be taking photos.

Locations in which orbs are frequently observed are often said to be associated with other 'supernatural activity' and haunting taking place.

As orb photos may be gained anywhere, the position of "ghost hunters" who claim orb photos are more common in allegedly haunted areas is significantly weakened. That orb photos can be gained anywhere has, however, been adopted into the position of conspiracy theorists who maintain that orbs are probes/devices being used by an alien culture to monitor human activities.

Orb photos have become so common that some ghost hunting organizations are no longer accepting submissions of them, or specifying that only "exceptional" examples be presented

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orb_(paranormal) (Edited by Paul Bradford)