Ghost Hunting, Spotswood, N.J.

Cameras

A DSLR Camera: Can be used for Ghost Hunting Photography but cannot completely see in the dark . You can use a red light to illuminate the area or bring a flashlight for focusing, and you can quickly obtain apparitions in your photos if you can stand the insidious invasion of the paranormal.

Full Spectrum Digital Camera: – Takes quality Full Spectrum photos and video. They have been professionally modified to accept deeper Ultraviolet (UV) light spectrum light to allow photos deep into the usually unseen spectrum of light. Best used with an external infrared light source.

Infrared (IR) Digital Camera: – Takes quality IR photos and video with the convenience and ease of a compact digital camera with a built-in infrared light source.

DSLR Camera Lens: 

This is a wide-angle lens event, but you ideally need a lens with an open aperture, such as 2.8 or below. The higher-end cameras will allow you to go to a very high ISO with less noise, so they are ideal. If you don’t have a high camera, any camera will do. After all, we are not going for super high-quality images here. We are going for super high amounts of paranormal activity that we can document. As long as we get our evidence, it doesn’t always have to look pretty. Some of our lower-end camera images above are filled with grain, but we got what we were after.

Ghost Hunting Camera Settings

For basic DSLR Photography, our goal is to capture activity, not necessarily, consistently super high quality, so that we will do a few things a little out of the ordinary.

1. You must use a tripod when shooting in a dark area.
2. Set your camera to manual mode.
3. Put your camera on the 2-second timer, or use a cable release.
4. Set your ISO very high for very dark locations (example: 6400). The higher the number, the more light goes into the camera. You cannot shoot a DSLR in total darkness without some light source, such as a church light, a full moon, or red light in the back of a room. Again, it’s not always about avoiding grain or digital noise here. ISO 100 for outdoors in graveyards with decent light.
5. Set your aperture to the lowest it will go. (ex. 2.8) to let more light in. If you need some depth of field, set the gap a little higher. You cannot go much higher in the darkness since the higher the number; the less light will come into the camera. Scroll your shutter speed until the meter reads center zero. You can take some test shots and adjust from there.
6. Set your shutter speed to about 5 seconds to start. You will again adjust according to how much light you have available.

EMF Meters: Measure fluctuations in electromagnet fields (or EM fields). These fields directly result from electrical appliances in a home, cell phones, power lines outside, and even solar activity and weather fluctuations. Beyond that, a primary theory in the paranormal world is that entities can manipulate these fields in their attempt to manifest themselves or interact with our world. When your meter goes off, do a long exposure on your tripod.

Focusing in the Dark

Now you are set. If you do not have enough light or your camera will not focus, take a flashlight and light up a single subject in the picture. (Don’t blast light all over; you will disturb who it is you are there to find.) Put the focus point where the camera will focus on the area you have lit up. When you see the camera has obtained focus and the two-second timer starts, turn your flashlight off quickly before the exposure begins. The camera will now take the shot. Set your camera to manual focus without touching the focus ring. Take several pictures without moving your camera. You will have to refocus the same way every time you do different shots.

Another way to focus on darker areas is to turn on live view. Hit your zoom button and zoom in on something lit. Expose your image. When you zoom in, the camera can see it better to grab focus. This only works if you have enough light.

Ghost Hunting Terms

• Apparition – A ghost or ghostlike image of a person.
• Automatism – an action performed unconsciously or involuntarily caused by spirits.
• Banshee – A female spirit whose wailing warns of impending death in a house.
• Collective Apparition – A rare type of sighting in which more than one person sees the same apparition or phenomena.
• Digital and analog audio recording – Capturing any unexplained noises and electronic voice phenomena (EVPs).
• Direct Voice Phenomenon (DVP) –  Voices spoken to the Medium at a séance.
• Earthbound – A term referring to a ghost or spirit attached to the earth that cannot leave this dimension.
• Ectoplasm – a supernatural viscous substance. It is supposed to exude from the body of a medium during a trance.
• EMF Meters – Measures the fluctuations in electromagnet fields (or EM fields). These fields directly result from electrical appliances, cell phones, power lines outside, and possible changes in solar activity and weather. Most noteworthy, a theory in the paranormal world is that entities can transform these fields to manifest themselves and events to contact this world.
• Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) – Voices and sounds from beyond are recorded.
• Ghost – A generic term referring to a form of an apparition, which is typically the visual appearance of a deceased human’s soul.
• Ghost Hunting – A research project in which various methods and equipment are used to investigate reports of ghosts.
• Ghoul – A Demonic or parasitic entity that eats human remains.
• Orb – The term orb describes unexpected, typically circular artifacts in photography—sometimes with trails indicating motion.
• Paranormal – Refers to something beyond the range of everyday human experience or scientific explanation.
• Phantom – It is seen, heard, or sensed but has no physical reality (See Ghost).
• Paranormal Vortex:  A vortex in everyday life is a whirling mass of either air or water. Some believe a paranormal vortex is a space where apparitions can travel between our world and theirs on the other side.
• Radio Voice Phenomenon (RVP) – Receiving the voice of a spirit through a regular radio.
• Reciprocal Apparition – A scarce phenomenon where humans communicate directly with spirits back and forth.
• Retrocognition – An experience where a person finds themselves in the past and can see events they knew nothing about.
• Shaman – A person who acts as a medium between the visible and spirit worlds. They practice healing and divination and are believed to have control over natural events.
• Spiritual Vortex: – These metaphysical dimensions are said to be areas of energy that enhance psychic abilities and can heal the spirit.
• Spiritualism – The belief system is that the dead can communicate with the living through a medium.
• Vortex – An anomaly that appears in photographs. These images are sometimes thought to represent ghosts, collections of orbs, or gateways that travel to a wormhole in time space.