# What are these orbs in these photos? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772 "2008-11-21T03:00:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Libre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@Libre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Libre)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/1 "2008-11-21T03:00:11Z")
What’s the straight dope on the orbs seen in some photos taken at night by digital cameras? Here are some examples: [![](http://www.farshot.com/images/stories/Articles/Orb-bethleham1.jpg) ](http://www.farshot.com/images/stories/Articles/Orb-bethleham1.jpg) [www.iam-iam-iam.com/indianb4.jpg](http://www.iam-iam-iam.com/indianb4.jpg) [files.myopera.com/Words/blog/orbs1109019.jpg](http://files.myopera.com/Words/blog/orbs1109019.jpg) [![](http://www.greatmystery.org/images/orbhunt_kellywittwer.jpg) ](http://www.greatmystery.org/images/orbhunt_kellywittwer.jpg) [www.meetthespirits.com/images/niagarafalls.jpg](http://www.meetthespirits.com/images/niagarafalls.jpg) [![](http://www.joanocean.com/SAS08_A/SAS-Orbs-at-fire3.jpg) ](http://www.joanocean.com/SAS08_A/SAS-Orbs-at-fire3.jpg) I’ve seen these in quite a few photos, always at night, but am not sure what they are. Is this moisture in the air, an artifact of light or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/2 "2008-11-21T03:02:17Z")
Airborne particles, close to the lens so they’re out of focus and illuminated by the flash. ---
**Author:** ![Libre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@Libre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Libre)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/3 "2008-11-21T03:47:45Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > Airborne particles, close to the lens so they’re out of focus and illuminated by the flash. This makes complete sense. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/4 "2008-11-21T04:35:40Z")
Nice fox. 🙂 I vote for water on the lens. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/5 "2008-11-21T04:37:31Z")
or dust on the lens. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/6 "2008-11-21T04:43:26Z")
They’re ghoooooooooooooosts. _woo noises_ Or you need to clean your lens off / turn off the flash. Either one. ---
**Author:** ![Libre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@Libre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Libre)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/7 "2008-11-21T15:08:11Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > or dust on the lens. It would be interesting to set a digital camera on a tripod at night, take two consecutive shots using the flash and compare them. This would determine if it is indeed something in the air or dust/moisture on the lens. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/8 "2008-11-21T15:17:37Z")
> [@Libre](#): > > It would be interesting to set a digital camera on a tripod at night, take two consecutive shots using the flash and compare them. This would determine if it is indeed something in the air or dust/moisture on the lens. It’s dust in the air. Dirt on the lens would not be illuminated by the flash. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/9 "2008-11-21T17:53:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Nice fox. 🙂 I second that. Cool pic! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-orbs-in-these-photos/473772/10 "2008-11-21T19:19:10Z")
> [@Libre](#): > > It would be interesting to set a digital camera on a tripod at night, take two consecutive shots using the flash and compare them. This would determine if it is indeed something in the air or dust/moisture on the lens. It most of those pictures, there appears to be different sizes of specks at different levels of brightness, indicating dust particles in the air. If you were to take multiple pictures from a tripod, as long as the subject isn’t moving and the particles are moving, you could remove the particles with [this cool technique in Photoshop](http://www.jnack.com/adobe/photoshop/fountain/).