Sometimes a ray of sunlight or camera flash can cause reflections that will fool you. Dust and smoke can sometimes form images that may appear as a face or apparition. Although it may be considered in some aspects as an anomaly, it doesn`t always mean that you are looking at a spirit.

With cameras that use film, you can sometimes get a processing error when the film is developed that can make blotches, streaks of light, or even sometimes a double exposure. In this day and age that is a rare occurence, but it does happen. In some cases, the last picture on a roll of film has a tendency to produce image errors that many people mistake as an apparition or energy.

Digital cameras are notorious for producing orbs in photos. This usually is not an actual orb, but is caused by dust & insects. Many experiments have been conducted where the photographer will kick up some dust with his or her feet, then snap a picture with a digital camera, then a film camera a second or two later.

The digital photo will show orbs, but the film photo doesn`t. A true orb is when a spirit cannot absorb enough energy to produce a full or partial apparition, so it will sometimes appear as a spot. These spots vary in colors, but quite often are white. That`s why GhostHauntings.org isn`t interested in most orb photos, because many of them are in fact not a true paranormal event & can be explained.

Taken with a digital camera after kicking up dust. These are NOT true orbs, but dust is notorious for doing this with digital cameras. If you were to take the same picture with a film camera, these dust orbs would not be present. 

When you actually get a picture with an apparition or shadow image, it`s important to review it carefully & go down the list of possibilities. If you suspect that what you`re seeing may just be a reflection, study the picture carefully & try to rule out all possibilities. In many cases if you look closely, you will be able to determine if it is. If you see a face in a tv screen, you know that in order for it to be a reflection, a person must be extremely close to that T.V., usually no more than a foot or two. If you suspect that the T.V. was on at the time the picture was taken, you will usually see a sign that the T.V. is on by just looking closely & studying the photo.

You must study all angles of the photo & systematically rule out all possibilities. It just takes common sense & a good eye, & never rush yourself. If you`re unsure about a photo, take hours or even days to study it. Even if you get tired & have to put it down for a few hours & look again later, DON`T RUSH TO CONCLUSIONS!

If you`re really unsure, a professional photographer can often determine if it a double exposure or processing error, because they are trained in the field & know what to look for.

You can usually determine a real photo of a paranormal phenomenon by using reasoning & common sense, but no matter how thorough you may be, once in a while a photo may come along that can fool you & the rest of the world. 

As it says on our main page "many of these photos have been examined by experts to confirm their authenticity", and that`s true, many of them have. From time to time there may be a photo that cannot be proven, nor disproved. For those photos we have no choice but to take them at face value until we can disprove them. There are times when even the trained eye of a photographic expert cannot even determine if an image is real or not.