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Let me say from the outset that I'm definitely a skeptic but I find it a bit hard to fully explain the strange "reflection" on the left, just over the couch.
This photo was taken last night by my son's girlfriend using a P&S camera. We were celebrating my father's birthday and we were all sitting at the table in the dining room at the time when apparently she had an overwhelming feeling to turn around and take a photo of the empty lounge room.
Personally I think it's a reflection from the flash on to the front element of the lens, but it doesn't look quite right.
For the believers among us, an interesting fact is that my father-in-law passed away recently and it was the first family gathering since his death and he would have normally been there, and for the numerologists, he passed away on the 9-9 and yesterday it was the 11-11 his interment will be on the 12-12.
This is the photo, nothing done to it except crop and re size for web. What do you think?

Philip I think they should put better quality lenses on P&S! Not that I don't believe unexplained things exist, just think this is some internal refraction in the lens/sensor setup.

Definitely a skeptic, here. I would always look for a logical explanation or at least a plausible one and at the very least analyse things logically.

The sensors on digital cameras are designed to record light. Now, perhaps by accident they can record things other than light but if we first assume that they works as designed, one would expect that what you are seeing on the image is the effect of light. Human eyes are also sensitive to light so if the "apparition" was truly just above the seat, why is it that the camera picked it up and no-one saw it with their light sensitive apparatus? i.e. it is more likely that it was cause by reflected or refracted light somewhat closer to the lens and perhaps even part of the camera.

If the camera sensor is capable of detecting things other than light, why doesn't this happen more often?

The numerology thing also is somewhat illogical when you consider that our system of dates is some what arbitrary - consistent but arbitrary. Why should July and August have 31 days but September only have 30? If August had 30 days and September 31, 9-9 would become 8-9 and any numerical significance would be lost. Or are we to assume that the "other side" corralled the date system to meet their requirements (but they still don't have all cultures corralled yet)?

I believe...

...that I am a sceptic!

It looks to me like lens flare caused by the reflection (evident in the window) of the flash .

just plain old lens flare

Skeptic. It's lens flare from the flash reflection.

If it was your Father-In-Law sending a sign from the afterlife, don't you think he would have sent more than a blurry dot?

If I was come after my life , I would not choose to be a blob that no one can recognise.

Has anyone got these with their DSLR?

My friend believes in these so much that he is unwilling to give up his old PS for the want of GODs in his images..

Glen wrote:Philip I think they should put better quality lenses on P&S! Not that I don't believe unexplained things exist, just think this is some internal refraction in the lens/sensor setup.

Almost forgot...

http://www.ghostvillage.com/resources/2006/features_11092006.shtml

http://www.ghoststudy.com/main/fakepageorbs.html

http://www.pararesearchers.org/Ghosts/orbs/orbs.html

So many articles on the net... I am surprised that we don't have an Orbist on the forum

photohiker wrote:Skeptic. It's lens flare from the flash reflection.

If it was your Father-In-Law sending a sign from the afterlife, don't you think he would have sent more than a blurry dot?

You didn't know my father-in-law

surenj wrote::agree: If I was come after my life , I would not choose to be a blob that no one can recognise.

Has anyone got these with their DSLR?

My friend believes in these so much that he is unwilling to give up his old PS for the want of GODs in his images..

 LOL I never get them with my dslr but with my smaller Canon Ixus P & S I get them a lot, particularly when using a flash in a darkened room. Not with my G9 though.

Marvin wrote:LOL I never get them with my dslr but with my smaller Canon Ixus P & S I get them a lot, particularly when using a flash in a darkened room. Not with my G9 though.

That's because Canon got someone in to exorcise the ghosts from the production line just before the G9!

I am going to be a believer, I think its nice to think tyour father-in-law was there in spirit. Bah to the lens flare people!

I have seen too may unexplainable occurrences in my life to be a non-believer (and please do not bring alcohol and drugs into any arguments).

I could possibly believe it was lens flare if it were on the same plane as the flash in the window or photo-chopped. It would be interesting to see the white area blown up to see the detail in the shot.

I will always keep an open mind

Chris, here's closer crop and also the full frame for reference

Thanks Phillip. If this was to be lens flare then it is exhibiting a rather strange internal formation within the ‘flare’. From my own experience with lens flare there tends to be a multiplicity of varying flare sizes which are very often ellipsoid in nature due to the angle of the affecting light source. They also tend to vary in density and chroma.

The flash reflection in the window would not support the positioning of the ethereal image IMO.

But in reality who knows I just like to keep an open and inquisitive mindset

I believe that is a dust particle that is fairly close to your camera which got lit up by the flash. I've taken a number of flash shots in a dusty environment and get the same thing - usually 3 or 4 in the image.

I can see a face in the orb.......

MATT

I agree that it looks like PACMAN sideways with a smiley face!

i agree, i know i'm late very late as a matter of fact..... i think its just a dust particle being lit up, i used to get them all the time with my old P&S. sorry to say its nothing supernatural!! hehehe but thats only my view on the image. some one call the ghost busters oooooo hehehe.

For what it's worth, I'm a beleiver as I have had a few very real and scary things happen in my life that I cannot explain.
Interesting in this shot is that the blob (for want of a better explanation) is around head height if sitting down.

As I said in the original post, I'm a skeptic but I can see how at times you may become a believer.
Once I was positively sure that I was witnessing a UFO. It was a bright sunny day, no clouds in the sky. I was putting some clothes on the line so I was looking straight into the sky when a saw a bright light dashing across the sky at lightning speed back and forwards. This lasted at least 30 seconds so I had plenty of time to contemplate what it could be. It wasn't til I moved to a slightly different position that I realized that what I was seeing was the sun reflecting on a very thin spiderweb string which was almost invisible to the eye and as the wind was moving it up and down, the reflection had the effect of running up and down the line of the web. Had I not seen the spiderweb, I would now be claiming to have seen a UFO as I could see no other explanation at the time.

How many of you have had this sort of blob with a DSLR? Despite being full of dust bunnies, I haven't had this sort of phenomena with my DSLR.

never had it happen with my dslr, but used to happen a lot with my old point and shoot.

Perhaps some things are better left to remain, a ' Mystery ' ! Makes life life more interesting !!
NeoN