Debunk Paranormal

I see hundreds of pictures of supposed paranormal every month and what I see in 99% is the wrong camera settings, pareidolia, matrixing and apophenia.

For night time investigations (unless your shooting off a tripod ) set your ISO to 400 to 800. If your shooting under 9 mega pixel stay around a 400 ISO above that raise it to an 800 ISO.

Camera straps should be removed unless your using a large camera and have on a neck strap. Then by all means use it but keep it on your neck.

Auto focus, if your camera is on auto focus and is constantly trying to focus at night then switch to manual focus.  Set it on manual and adjust it for the room sizes your shooting. This will work for most investigations.

Shutter speeds, you can’t expect great shots when your shutter is open 2 seconds or longer.
1/8000 will stop any motion
1/4000 high enough speed to take pictures while walking
1/2000 will stop most motion
1/1000 will stop bicyclists and runners
1/500 will freeze a person jumping in the air
1/250 will stop some motion
1/125 to avoid camera shake
Speeds that blur motion. Use a tripod for these speeds.
1/60 slight blurring of motion
1/30 very good speed to show a bit of blur when photographing dancers
1/15 the blurring of motion becomes clearly evident
1/8 the blurring motion becomes more pronounced
1/4 the blurring of motion becomes extreme
1/2 high speed motion begins to become invisible

This is when you start seeing see-thru figures

1 medium speed motion begins to become invisible
2 all motion begins to become invisible
4 more motion begins to become invisible
8 motion develops a fog like quality
B this one allows you to keep the shutter open as long as you want

Camera movement, this is a huge problem with paranormal photographers. At night when your camera is set wrong  you must  listen closely to make sure your shutter opens and closes. Just because the flash goes off doesn’t mean the picture is done. Your shutter may remain open and when you move you add shadows and strange blurs to your shot.

Dust or moisture, when dust or moisture is present expect to capture  orbs. These aren’t paranormal and have been shown you can eliminate them by moving your flash further from your lens.  Or by adding a shroud around the outside of your lens.

EXIF Information, digital cameras have what is called EXIF information on every  picture. If you have pictures not turning out then check your EXIF this will give you the settings you are using. Experiment with your camera and when you find EXIF settings that are perfect write them down  and use them all the time.

By following a few small suggestions you can take better paranormal shots. Also now if you catch something then we will be more apt to believe it when you have the correct settings.