Get Rid Of Dust Orbs
Back to: Orbs
Learn how to eliminate dust orbs in ghost photographs.
Orbs can be created by dust in front of the camera lens, so if one
wants to capture real orbs by way of camera, we suggest taking some
steps to get rid of dust orbs while investigating
for real ghosts.
Because
most digital cameras have a flush face with the flash unit being located beside
the lens, dust is easily illuminated while photographing and is
often captured in photos as balls of light - very orb-like indeed. Dust orbs
can be eliminated though through several
ways.
To get
rid of dust orbs, one way is to purchase a camera that has a
flash unit on top, with a
fixed lens that extends out
from the camera body. Think old-style in camera
appearance. We found that digital cameras that are bigger and bulkier
seem to record
less dust orbs in photographs. You could also try and disable
the flash
unit on your camera and move it away from the camera body if you are an
electronics guru. Also, buying a lens hood that attaches to the end of
that protruding camera lens would also work well. Check and see if a lens
hood is available for your digital camera at a camera store.
Of course, there is another option and that
is to make a lens hood
out of paper or flexible,
thin plastic sheeting.
Lens hoods can be
expensive so downloading a hood to shield dust seems like a great way
to experiment first. We found two websites that offer printable and free hoods you can fold and tape around
your camera lens: Free Lens
Hoods Printable Lens
Hoods
The other way we thought of to eliminate dust orbs is by blocking the flash
from illuminating the lens area is to create an awning. This works
particularly well for digital cameras that have a flush lens, or
almost-flush lens. We created a .pdf file template which you
can download and print: Dust Orb Awnings. Check out: Reduce
Dust Orbs for photos of our dust awning!
Simply, cut out the desired size dust awning and afix it to the camera
body with some removable tape. The tabs may be shortened on the awning (or
remove the ones you do not need to make the awning navigate its way around the
top of the lens) to fit around your specific style of camera. Be careful
to not have the awning get in front of the flash, or your photographs will have
shadows in them that could be mistaken as a shadow
ghost!
Left: A camera with an extended and fixed
lens with a flash unit on top (that either attaches or "pops
up") typically produces fewer dust orbs due to the distance between flash
and lens. The further away the flash unit, the fewer the
orbs.
Right: An example of a lens with, and
without a lens hood. Adding a lens hood can reduce dust
orbs.
Left: Point and shoot cameras have the flash unit
beside the lens. Even though this lens telescopes a bit, it will still
capture dust orbs. Perhaps a paper lens hood could be taped to the
extended lens.
Right: This digital camera does not have an
extended lens, so dust orbs will be even more prevalent. Our yellow line
shows where placement of a simple paper dust awning on this camera should reduce
the dust orb effect.
Right:
Kathy and Travis Owen created their own dust hood by using a toilet paper
roll and some Scotch tape!
Right: Example of a printable lens hood which can
be cut-out, then taped to the camera to help eliminate dust orbs in ghost
pictures.
