Kathy Owen from Bodfish, California and founder of Lake Isabella Paranormal Society sent us her and her group's following experiments in creating false ectoplasm ghost pictures, by first photographing cigarette smoke, and then, human breath in cold weather. You will see it is very easy to capture a mist if someone is smoking during a ghost hunt or if the photographer doesn't hold his or her breath when snapping pictures. We have also found that cigarette smoke can linger for hours after a cigarette or cigar is smoked and may not be visible to the human eye - but the eye of the camera may still see the smoke.
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Nice cloud of cigarette smoke in the upper left of the picture.
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This is more typical looking smoke from a cigarette.
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More cigarette smoke for reference...
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Paula sent us this true ectoplasm picture some time ago. See the distinct vapor trails?
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The remaining photos from Kathy reveal how human breath appears in cold weather.
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With breath in cold air, you will notice few or no vapor trails.
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Lots of times, breath in photos appears on one side or the other.
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Breath can look like a cloud far away from the camera (though it is not).
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Snow and breath create orbs and a mist...
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Another mist from breath...
Kathy Owen's report about the false mist experiments with her son:
"My son Daniel was taking the pictures while my daughter and I puffed away (on cigarettes). It does appear to look just like ectoplasm, but it is not. Just by using the normal setting on my digital camera, and two people smoking on each side of the camera, it can easily be mistaken for ectoplasm. This is where it is very important not to smoke while conducting an investigation! Leave those cigarettes in the car!
My husband and I wanted to try a little something different. So being so cold outside to the temperature of 19 degrees, we wanted to see the effects of the cold elements and our breath. When we exhaled, I took the shot. It's so amazing how our breath looks like ectoplasm! It even has a brownish tint to it, as well. I also looked very closely over each picture, and some of the mist appears to have faces in it, but it just the illusion it gives off. This is just the two of us outside on a very cold night, breathing into the air. This could very easily be mistaken for ectoplasm, but it is not. Often times, the photographer will not see the exhaled breath - but the camera still can record it, making the ghost hunter think they captured a ghostly mist. This is why I like to do my ghost hunting during the warmer months."