The Photo Tech: Lens/Flash Phenomena

November 1, 2007

With more use of "point and shoot" digital cameras on investigations, the emergence of "orbs" in photographs has increased. As we know, in most cases, orbs in photos or video are caused by air born dust particles. Here, the light from your flash, video light, or even your camcorder's night shot mode will reflect off of the surface of the dust particle leaving a round or "orb" shape on your media.

With the use of an SLR type camera with a speed light mounted to a camera bracket, I have seen very few orbs in my photos. This is due to my flash being farther away from my lens. When your flash is located very close to your lens, any air born dust particles are practically posing for you and your camera.

Photographic repair technicians have seen this type of activity in point and shoot digital cameras since their inception. This activity is known as "Lens/Flash Phenomena". Due to lab experimentation by these technicians, it is now becoming a known fact in the photographic world that when the flash and lens of a digital camera are close to each other you will see these "orbs" in your pictures.

In a lot of cases you may even see colored orbs in your photographs. This is caused by the multi coatings that are applied to each optic in the lens housing. At different "zoom" positions or focal lengths the color of these coatings may influence the orbs.

In other cases, the orbs in question may actually show a surface texture or have an "amoeba" like appearance. Again, this is a part of the reflection process. When your flash or video light is reflected, it reflects off of the surface of the dust particle. These particles are not smooth, in fact, they have a rough surface. Very similar to how we see "the man in the moon", there is no face on the moon's surface. The same would apply to the surface of a particle of dust.

Although we cannot eliminate dust orbs, we can reduce them. With an SLR it is relatively easy. By using a speed light in conjunction with a camera bracket the flash is elevated higher than the camera lens. With a point and shoot digital camera, we need to be creative. Most camera stores will have what is called diffuser material. Diffuser material softens and spreads light. This thin plastic material can be trimmed to fit your flash. Your flash will lose a little reach, but the softened light will help reduce orbs in your photos.

As long as people investigate the paranormal, we will have dust orbs. This calls for action through education. The Photo Tech is here to assist you with any of your photographic questions. You can email your questions to clyburnphoto@aol.com

Tip of The Month:

Dust can be a bother, so make sure to bring a micro fiber cloth to keep your lenses clean. You can use canned air but BE AWARE as moisture can escape from the canned air if it is tilted during use.

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The Photo Tech: Lens/Flash Phenomena

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