Photography 101

A Beginners’ Guide to Flash Photography
How to Photograph a GHOST (Last Part)–

Ghost experts say that there are many different types of ghost manifestations. Among them are Orbs, Vortexes, and Full Body manifestations. According to some, not all that inhabits in the spiritual realm is necessarily a ghost. There are times that what constitutes a photographic evidence of a ghost is not always believable, for one person’s ghostly image may simply be another photographer’s creative trick.

The most common ghostly manifestations

Benjamin Rivera

The first and probably the most commonly understood type of ‘ghost’ is that of the deceased human being – usually of someone known to the observer such as a friend or family member. This type of ghost appears not only intelligent, but capable of interactions and making itself visible – being heard audibly and even touching the living. Some ghosts even seem capable of causing to emit odors such as cigarette, perfume, among others, that were associated with them when they were still alive.

Furthermore, some ghosts are capable of displaying a whole range of emotions and temperaments. They may be playful, sad, and loving while others are dark and angry. Often they are described and are seen to exhibit violent emotions such as rage and anger or even threatening someone.

Therefore, an encounter with a ghost may either be a pleasant experience (depending on the emotional state of the observer), a frightening or disturbing one, depending on the kind of ghost and the circumstances of its manifestation.

To add some spice into our lesson, let us examine the series of photos below (from 1 to 4). Recall that in Part 1 (September 8, 2009), I mentioned that “the juicy part of the ghost picture is the story that goes with it.” Read on. .

A scary and threatening “ghost”captured through the camera

“I was packing up my Kodak DX 7590 camera when I decided to take a stolen photo of Sir Benjie who was quietly working with his laptop on one rainy and cold morning. He was in the living room of his vacation house in Masbate. He was enjoying the cold breeze with the scent of the tide coming from the seashore – only a stone’s throw away. There in front of the balcony were green leaves and the bark of huge Talisay tree obstructing the exhilarating view of the sea.

On sunny days, this huge tree would effectively block the direct sun, thus providing a comfortable shade in the balcony.

Then suddenly, I noticed that something unnatural appeared in the bark of the tree. It looked like a black smoke carried by the gentle wind. I took another shot as the smoke developed into something more.

I was intrigued on what I saw as it continued to take shape, so I took another shot. Then it continued to transform into some eerie shape as it became thicker, it was like a flying creature typical of any horror movie. I shouted at the top of my voice to alert sir Benjie when I realized that the thing was heading towards him.

Then the black smoke developed into a horrific human face as it continued to enter the living room through the iron grill. I took another shot and ran while screaming at my boss to get out.”

The Technical Side

(How it was photographed)

There was really nothing scary in the photographs in this article. As I earlier mentioned, it is the story that makes the “ghost image” hair-raising. The “ghost images” can be explained in illustration photos in part 1 of this article (Sept. 8, 2009). We recall that in Photo B, a car running towards the camera, at a speed of about 30km per hour, disappears in the middle of the frame (135 degrees of camera to be exact) and only traces of its color can be seen when the shutter speed is lowered to 1/8th of a second.

That photographic phenomenon was the basis of this “ghost concept.” At long exposures, a person can walk around in front of the camera with his image not being photographically recorded in full. The only visible trace of him is the seemingly transparent image form that depends on the lenght of exposure.

In the photos 1 to 4, the shutter speed setting was 1 second at Shutter Priority Mode. ISO was set to the lowest sensetivity at ISO 80. The “ghost image” was my personal assistant merely walking around while the photographer kept firing her camera mounted on a table because we had no tripod. A camera with the lowest sensitivity was chosen because we shot in broad daylight. But you can actually shoot with higher ISO depending on the brightness of the existing lighting condition. The reader who would try to photograph a similar effect may want to experiment on different shutter speeds and the pace of movement of his “ghost.”