Ghost hunting relies on conclusive evidence. Photographs are the most difficult to prove. Not only are they easy to falsify, they are easy to matrix, meaning your eye tends to make smudges and shapes into figures naturally. There may be nothing in the mist, but your mind believes it sees a face.
People send me “paranormal” photos all the time. Most of them are just matrixing. So, how do we avoid this? High resolution – keep your camera set on high resolution to capture the most detail of what you are shooting. The more pixels, the better the picture quality. It is easier to determine if a shot is paranormal if it has detail. When you zoom in on a 300 dpi image (dpi = dots per inch), it does not lose as much integrity as 72 dpi. Cameras often compensate by shooting a larger image at 72 dpi. This is fine. The problem comes when you want to save the image on a disk or computer.
Digital cameras mostly use a JPEG format. There is one glaring issue with this. Each time you re-save an image file, it loses resolution. As a JPEG degenerates it becomes muddy. This is the source of most people imagining they see a dark shadow or a figure in a photo. The lack of clarity makes it easy for one’s mind to matrix.
Compare the same photo below, the left is the higher resolution. The right shows pixelation. One can see how the image loses detail with less pixels per inch on the left. Also, this mirror could yield a host of possible images since it is so incredibly smudged.
Left is the high resolution image of the mirror. Right is the low resolution. -photo by Terri J. Garofalo
Close up of mirror photos comparing high resolution left with degenerated low resolution on right. Notice how the image on the right looks more face-like? It is just a smudge. In the lower resolution, it looks more like an apparition. -photos by Terri J. Garofalo
As a graphic designer, I handle various digital image files frequently. For printing I need the highest resolution; for the web, the lowest. JPEG degeneration is solved, by saving the original photo in a stable format. I use TIF because it is the best one for printers who do publications. This also serves me well for paranormal evidence. All the original pictures I have are now TIF files. Any time I need a new file type, I go back to the original TIF and do a “save as” or “save for web and devices.” I never alter the original file. This way I have a copy for possible book or magazine printing, and I can make a file sized for the web or other applications.
I usually take the original JPEG, size it to be 300 dpi and make it 10 inches at its longest dimension. There is no reason to have anything larger than that. I then save that as my original TIF file. For web copies, I size it to 72 dpi and save if for “web and devices” or as a PNG file. You can save it as a JPEG, but you will not be able to alter it further without losing detail.
And that, my friends, is your paranormal tip for the day!
Enjoy!
Tj
