Sillysoft Games

I posted this on my own forum and wanted to post it here for a wider viewing audience. I was on my bike and stopped at Nojoqui Falls a little north of Santa Barbara CA. I was just clicking around. When I looked at the photos a week later, this one stood out. Note the sphere to the right of the object too. This image has not been touched. I think it's pretty damn bizarre. I have the images before this shot and after it. None of them have a spot on the lense.

looks like a bird or something...very interesting

Better call Ghost busters........

or check your camera....

having taken lots of photos in air pollution control devices (baghouses and precipitators) for my job, I can tell you that free floatin dust, looks just like a so called 'orb'. I have no explanation for the 'shirt' like object in the center of the pic.

perhaps you should post your photo here:

http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/

I went in to that site Mike, and I don't think I am going to be able to sleep tonight. Some of them were really scary...

MissChaos wrote:I went in to that site Mike, and I don't think I am going to be able to sleep tonight. Some of them were really scary...

hmmm... perhaps you need need someone to tell you a nice bed time story? Unfortunately I only know scary ones....

I know it sounds boring but.... judging by the other bright areas that are peeking thru the trees in the background, I would wager that you are seeing the sun (the angel) with a dust speck in the foreground (the orb). It's difficult to tell what direction the sun is at since you were in the shadows, but it was probably showing thru a very small "hole" in the forest. I sometimes have the reverse issue and purposely step into the small shadow of a tree to get nice backlight shots without glare (rather than stepping into a small patch of light with glare). That said, I think someone should definitely burn the angel image into a piece of toast and auction it off on eBay.


Sasquatch

It's the only picture I've ever taken that had something halfway interesting in it, unless of course you count that time I was...uh, nevermind. Anyway, here's the info from the image. I think I'll go back up there and see what direction I was facing to see if the sun could have been peeking through, and also to look for something reflective.

Mike wrote:perhaps you should post your photo here:

http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/

Thanks for the link Mike. I actually sent the image off to Dale K. at that link, and he replied immediately. Very nice. He seemed to think it was an insect illuminated by the flash. Darn. I was hoping I had a secret watcher.

i have to disagree with you sasquatch. After looking at the image for a while, there are a couple of clues that I think rule it out as the sun. For one it is or is almost below the horizon line in the photo. Even though it is hard to make out exactly where the horizon line is in the picture because of the dense group of trees, you can still generally as to it's location. Either way, even if it is not below the horizon line, it is still near it and judging by the lighting in the rest of the surrounding sky, it is definately not sunset. Secondly if you look back at the group of trees from which the flare is being projected, you will notice that there is a dense group of trees right behind it. Had it been one tree with say a branch missing, i would say that it very well could be the glare of the sun, but there are many, many trees and part of the glare is even blocking out parts of there trunks. if you look directly below the flare you can see the entire trunk of a tree in the distance that runs completely vertical into the middle of where the flare is comming from. Surely, if not the foilage, it would have by itself blocked out most of the direct sunlight. Lastly, the light is extremely intense comming from one very small source that is somehow not reflected or "illuminating" any of the surrounding trees or even the ground in the foreground which suggests that if you were seeing this scene, in person, that light would not be there. I've painted and drawn in high detail maybe a hundred landscapes, give or take, and though i'm not professing to be any sort of expert, I can safely say, with a great deal of knowlege and intuition about how the complexities of light and form, that the flare in the middle of that shady forest, what ever it is, doesn't seem to make any sense to me.

an insect however, i wouldn't rule out

this is 2006. Anyone can alter a photograph on the computer.

So your flash was off Dan?The reason i ask is,a bug could have been close to the lens thus would have been lit up.If not hmmmmmmmmm!!

The flash was on. The image data does not give detail about the flash. I checked other pictures where I knew the flash was on and knew it was off. It looks like the Canon A430 does not report this data. I do know the flash was on though because the light was pretty dim in all the trees and the flash fired for all the rest of the pictures I took there.

As for Photoshopping this, no. I don't have the time, inclination or skills to perpetrate something that stupid. I clicked off some pictures, one of them looked weird, I posted it out here to get some feedback, and it probably really is a bug caught in the flash.

I must admit though, it was pretty damn cool for a while thinking maybe I had clicked at the right time at the right place to see something truly unusual. Thanks to all for the feedback though.

Edited to include this from the Ghostbuster link Mike had posted:

"If you are referring to the brightly lit object near the center and not the orb, it’s probably an insect or bug because it appears to have wings. It most likely was illuminated by the sunlight or possibly a flash if one was used.

I do however appreciate you sending this to my attention.

Dale Kaczmarek author of "Windy City Ghosts", "Windy City Ghosts II", "A Field Guide to Spirit Photography" and "Illuminating the Darkness: The Mystery of Spooklights".

Ghost Research Society Press and Ghost Research Society

http://www.ghostresearch.org

Homepage of the Ghost Research Society Press; publishing books on paranormal and mysterious phenomena.

http://www.ghostresearch.org/press"

this link can explain some of the images

http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/

i have seen long exposures in which people have walked through the frame and it looks like they are ghosts.

I have seen double exposures

light flares

dust

digital noise

etc.

I personally don't believe that there are anything such as ghosts being caught in pictures.

The truth is out there....

I'm a little late to this discussion. Nevertheless, I wonder if the "angel" could be some kind of light leak or more likely a direct "hit" on your lens to cause both the "angel" and the sphere in the upper right-hand corner by some trick of refraction, although my first inclination is to say that the sphere is an out-of-focus reflection from something close-up and illuminated by the flash.

Photoshop? Shame on you, jonnie, and three "tsks" in your direction.

We had some extra time today down in the R&D lab so I decided to have the team analyze Danmax's photo and digitally zoom in on the "angel" as best possible. The results have staggering implications....

DAMNIT SAS!
you get back to work on the pickle issue right now.
mbauer is already snipping at our heels!

sasquatch wrote:We had some extra time today down in the R&D lab so I decided to have the team analyze Danmax's photo and digitally zoom in on the "angel" as best possible. The results have staggering implications....

Is there such a thing as a Guardian Devil?

AHHHHHHHHH!
it is the ghost of Dustin's neck beard!
AHHHHHHHHH!

Danmax is truly blessed to have his own Guardian Quasar! We have a spiritual advisor coming in tomorrow to talk with the R&D team. As you can imagine, they were pretty shaken up by the results here.

sasquatch wrote:Danmax is truly blessed to have his own Guardian Quasar! We have a spiritual advisor coming in tomorrow to talk with the R&D team. As you can imagine, they were pretty shaken up by the results here.

Yeah, I was feeling pretty blessed until the photo expert told me it was a flash reflection of a pesky bug!

It's a feature, not a bug.

This is what ToroCorp/The Semi-holy church of Lux calls investigation....how pathetic.



Clearly if you zoom in a little closer you see that the Angel Dustin is enjoying a nice pickle on a stick.




And that proves my theory: Angels love pickles!

The Quasar clearly has a pickle in his grasp... but he isn't enjoying a tasty snack. He's obviously skewered one of those pesky little pickle demons in the whatchamajigger and he is about to properly dispose of the vile monstrosity.....

i see...
the powerful quasar angel protecting mankind from the evil pickle demon.

thank you brother sasquatch.

Not so fast!

Another zoom in reveals that the angel Dustin is actually trying to get rid of the dreadful imposter cucumber. No doubt taking it to get properly pickled.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The defeated demonic pickle has been located by the recently dispatched dill recovery team. They have secured all evidence at the scene and there were sufficient clues which – without a doubt – indicate that this ghastly gherkin was not produced in facilities affiliated with Torostar Cucumbers. The fatal wounds to his hootilywhatsit were consistent with the Quasar's known capabilities. The pickle will be autopsied and thoroughly analyzed back at Toro Corp. A press conference will be held in the coming days to announce the results of the analysis. We're just lucky this evil pickle was stopped before he was able to harass or injure any innocent civilians.

Hazmat Team Alpha sketching pickle retrieval location....


Pickle Retrieval Specialist (center) transporting pickle...


Stay vigilant, citizens!