I'm not posting any pictures at the moment but would like to discuss the phenomena itself and common explanations for it.

Orbs in the past have been attributed to chemical developing processes. This was the automatic explanation for them and a very logical one for it's day and time. When you put liquid developer into the canister containing the film you have to hit it hard to jar air bubbles from the surface of the film. Air bubles will stop the developer naturally at the spot. Water drops on the lens will also form an "orb" but these drops tend to be blurrier and not contain much detail. Also glare or strong light coming from an angle will cause internal reflections off the diaphragm. These are usually hex shaped but it varies depending on the camera. In these I find that there is just an over-exposed orb or hex shape and it doesn't tend to pic up detail either. Patterns behind the glare spot remain the same or are washed out entirely.

Having said this, however I've noticed a specific pattern to the orbs that seem to not fit these explanations. More of us are using digital cameras every day. Since no film or chemicals are used, this rules out the old explanations for developing problems.

What I've noticed is that the really hard orbs to explain are those like the "Christmas orb" post by Lifesajourney. It's an excellent example and very clear. There is detail in it and the lighting doesn't show any glare. Water drops could cause this effect possibly but it should be blurrier in my opinion and it is indoors where you can't blame condensation or rain. I have to assume that the lens was clear at the time especially if a succession of pictures don't show the same spot. Have you noticed how similar some of this type of orbs are? They tend to have a pattern like a ball of energy with radiating spikes.

I think the skeptics need to be a little more open minded before they try to explain away all"orbs" as chemicals or abberration. What I've seen on some of these pictures seems to show that many orbs appear similar on digital photos and ordinary film in dry conditions and even lighting. Like crop circles, you can reproduce the appearance artificially but that doesn't mean they are all created by the same manner. I think it's altogether possible that spirit orbs could have always been there but just explained away by blaming the system. I think the blind skeptic is as illogical as the blind believer.

Any opinions?

Well not alot to add to that..... . I agree with everything you said, they are like little ballz of energy are'nt they, the detail in Lifes orb is incredible and you can almost detect motion in that still pic, like wavez within.....I found it fascinatiing.......

I have caught ALOT of pictures of orbs in my time. I dont post everyone because I also look for things like rain or dust that could have caused them.

The only differance, IMHO, between digital and 35mm is that you dont have that film strip to be analized. Thats IT. So for us peeps that are out there taking pictures and exploring the unknown, well ya know what. I dont think one of us here cares a hoot about proving it to someone with film. I think its more so a personal proof for us.

I think being skeptical is very healthy for this line of interest! You almost have to have a certian amount of skeptisim but there can be so many nae sayers that we all have to follow our own ideals.

I think orbs are balls of energy. I do not think 1 orb=1spirit. Orbs are kinda like a "gathering" of energy.

This is one of my favorite orb pictures, but I do admit it was after a fresh rain and the night was humid when I took this picture. Thats why I also refer to this one as "false positive" because it could be anything.


While this one was taking in a cematery one evening and I felt the presense that evening!


These are my two favorite Orb pictures! LOL. I tend to have them in threads alot.

I do find orbs very interesting and to capture good ones. My favorite is also the christmas orb picture. That one is AMAZING. Iv yet to capture one of a differant color, which Im REALLY looking foward too.

I like your thinking Jim! Its a breath of fresh air to be honest because you take what the skeptics say and rationalize it to a differant perceptive. Im sure you could have them chomping at the bit over this one!

Those are really pics Ali, I especially the second one. Absolutely beautiful.

I agree with you all you said, Jim. I think a happy medium (ha!!) here is better than either extreme.

And Ali, that's how I feel, that it's a good idea to be somewhat skeptical. I have some other pics of orbs, and a couple are possibly "real" orbs, but most of them, I'm not so sure about. With the Christmas one, I did get a gut feeling that it was something, but I still wanted to check it out and get opinions. I was trying to make sure that the feeling wasn't just wishful thinking on my part.....kwim?

And, I also think that just dismissing every orb picture as nothing but dust, water, chemicals etc., isn't right either. That's why I think it's great to have this area where we can get feedback from others.