Can someone help me with a picture I took ?

Just going through and sorting all my pictures I took over the last few weeks of the snow and I came across this really strange one. It's got me totally baffled as there was no one about when I took it or the ones before or after it. Have a look for yourselves



close up:

Dave!

My guesses would be that either there was someone there and you didn't notice, or it's caused by light reflecting off something, like glass on the front of the door.

Oryx

Looks normal to me. A guy in a reflective jacket with his hands in his pockets. They are standing by a door, could have nipped inside between shots. The reflectivity is the same as the snow, so to me has to do with the lighting around the place. If the person was closer, or levititating I would find it hard to explain but in this case Id reckon you didnt see them but the camera caught them as a glow which the naked eye didnt.

I always think photos like this should also be posted in photography to get opinions on what photographic glitch could have caused the phenomenon.

Dave!

Yeah I was gonna suggest that... There was a thread in the Astronomy forum for UFOs (think it got closed though unfortunately). It might be helpful to have a similar thread in the Photography forum.

cnocbui

It is either light coming out of a window with the back corner of an armchair blocking a bit of light from the inside and something outside blocking parts of the light from the top of the light.

Either that or there is an 8'6" person lurking about, which I would find scary.

Riamfada

cnocbui wrote: »

Either that or there is an 8'6" person lurking about, which I would find scary.

With a reflective head?

stepdoyle

is it one of those snowmen decorations you see lit up in every estate

Riamfada

seriously take a picture in daylight and post it up would you

Grimes

Grimes wrote: »

With a reflective head?

That's got me so it has, and there was no one standing there

Grimes wrote: »

seriously take a picture in daylight and post it up would you

CorkMan

TBH now that I look at it, it is a bit freaky. Whether a man or ghost, he/it appears to be staring in your direction aswell.

Riamfada

CorkMan wrote: »

he/it appears to be staring in your direction aswell.

Seriously? Are you sure you are not reading a bit too much into it? You have just personalised and made sinister a simple image, are you a professional medium

Anyway

Okay here is why I think it is not a high vis or reflective jacket. There is absolutely no detail in the figure at all despite relatively high detail in the rest of the image. It is far too bright to be a reflective jacket without a camera flash. The "face" area is also reflective hence my original comment about a reflective head.There are no decorations in the day photo that was posted.

Its very simular to an image I posted here years ago that was dismissed as someone wearing a reflective coat & head but I know for a fact there was no one in the vicinity.

Grimes

Grimes wrote: »

Okay here is why I think it is not a high vis or reflective jacket. There is absolutely no detail in the figure at all despite relatively high detail in the rest of the image. It is far too bright to be a reflective jacket without a camera flash. The "face" area is also reflective hence my original comment about a reflective head.There are no decorations in the day photo that was posted.

I'm 100% certain there was no one standing there, I know people will just have to take my word for it and others will say different, far enough, I'd probably say the same. As I said before, knowing that I know no one was there it just has me baffled and the reflective head even more so. When you zoom in on the head area it just gets more strange as you can see in the picture below, it looks more like a skull

I'm not going to jump the gun and say it's a ghost, all I will say is it's a very strange picture.

kylith

They had their hall light on when the first picture was taken. The 'person' is the light coming out the window. You can even see where one of the beams for the porch blocks the light, causing the 'head'.

Riamfada

I still dont see why it would be more out of focus than the other windows?

xabi

Take another nighttime photo.

kylith

kylith wrote: »

They had their hall light on when the first picture was taken. The 'person' is the light coming out the window. You can even see where one of the beams for the porch blocks the light, causing the 'head'.

No hall light was on, I don't think anyone lives there either. Besides, even if what you said was true it can't be that either as the beam is not blocking a light source to form a head as the head shape is formed away from the beam. The beam is above the head.

Major Lovechild

Someone hung something on the tree outside the house. That's all there is to it.

kylith

hellboy99 wrote: »

No hall light was on, I don't think anyone lives there either. Besides, even if what you said was true it can't be that either as the beam is not blocking a light source to form a head as the head shape is formed away from the beam. The beam is above the head.

The fact that the 'figure' is exactly where the door is would strongly suggest that it's some light anomoly from the glass on the door (you can even see the faint line of the wood dividing the window in the door) rather than a ghost of some description.

Why not take some more photos and see if you can recreate it?

liah

While I firmly believe it's a hall light obscured by the tree in the front and possibly something else on the door, it's kind of interesting that in the blown-up image, because of the colour changes it appears that it's what looks like a v shirt collar, a hat, and its hand in its pocket, quite distinctly!

Nothing supernatural in my opinion though.

CorkMan

I can see a pair of glasses on the most zoomed image. In the supernatural sense of course. But then again it seems to have a smaller head than a human.

I don't think it is the hallway light, how come there is no dividing line down the "torso" of the apparition, as would be evident if it was the doorway?

Abelloid

It appears to match exactly the shape of the windows, with some of the light blocked by the tree and porch truss.

Riamfada

Okay this is what we are going to do. Take a picture again tonight, this time make sure that the hall light is on when you do. Use the same camera settings.

By gosh we will harass these people yet!

Dave!

The light reflecting off the snow may have contributed to it also, which we can't recreate (right now anyway!)

maccored

Major Lovechild wrote: »

Someone hung something on the tree outside the house. That's all there is to it.

i was going to say what a particularly glib answer, but i think you could be on to something there.

Riamfada

Major Lovechild wrote: »

Someone hung something on the tree outside the house. That's all there is to it.

Im not saying its a ghost or anything but that sort of supposition is just as irresponsible as claiming its a spirit.

When people say things like "Someone hung something on the tree outside the house. That's all there is to it."it really gets my goat. You cannot possibly say for certain thats what it is. It annoys me as much as if someone were to say "well its a ghost, thats all there is to it".

Riamfada

Dave! wrote: »

The light reflecting off the snow may have contributed to it also, which we can't recreate (right now anyway!)

Dave, can you site or post an image of a similar snow reflection light or a wiki article on that phenomenon? Not trying to be smart but if thats what it is you got to back it up with something.

Grimes

Grimes wrote: »

Im not saying its a ghost or anything but that sort of supposition is just as irresponsible as claiming its a spirit.

When people say things like "Someone hung something on the tree outside the house. That's all there is to it."it really gets my goat. You cannot possibly say for certain thats what it is. It annoys me as much as if someone were to say "well its a ghost, thats all there is to it".

If I knew posting the picture up here was going to cause trouble I wouldn't of bothered

For the record, there was no one about when I took the picture, there was no hall light on and there was nothing on the tree either.

Thanks to everyone for all the opinions of what it could be. I don't know what it is and I'm not going to say 100% it's a ghost either, all I'm going to say is it's a strange picture that I can't explain.

Dave!

Grimes wrote: »

Dave, can you site or post an image of a similar snow reflection light or a wiki article on that phenomenon? Not trying to be smart but if thats what it is you got to back it up with something.

I don't have anything to back it up, I just said it may have contributed! Light reflects off surfaces differently, and snow is very reflective, hence it may provide a different angle for light to hit the glass in the door, which may contribute to the effect we see.

Just googled there, and albedo seems to be the metric we're interested in. Snow has a very high albedo (not to be confused with libido )

You can see from the original picture that the entire scene is illuminated in orange from the streetlights. If there were no snow, then this would be less dramatic.

I'm no photography expert, just firing out ideas

ronaneire

hellboy99 wrote: »

If I knew posting the picture up here was going to cause trouble I wouldn't of bothered

For the record, there was no one about when I took the picture, there was no hall light on and there was nothing on the tree either.

Thanks to everyone for all the opinions of what it could be. I don't know what it is and I'm not going to say 100% it's a ghost either, all I'm going to say is it's a strange picture that I can't explain.

Take another picture now that it is dark outside

silver70

A little levity is ok but i feel a proper take has been done (photo) and then gone and interpreted wrongly.
Have none of you spotted the three sat dish's because therein lies the answer, Its an Irish 3D picture and yer man wants to remain anonymous

ronaneire

ronaneire wrote: »

Take another picture now that it is dark outside

I've already done that numerous times now and all came out normal. No point really taking anymore until there is another snowfall to have the same conditions to take one then.

Wolfe Tone

Go show it to the neighbours and ask them

maccored

Grimes wrote: »

Im not saying its a ghost or anything but that sort of supposition is just as irresponsible as claiming its a spirit.

When people say things like "Someone hung something on the tree outside the house. That's all there is to it."it really gets my goat. You cannot possibly say for certain thats what it is. It annoys me as much as if someone were to say "well its a ghost, thats all there is to it".

that initially was my thought - but there could have been some form of christmas decoration on the tree. It looks like the image is where the small tree in the garden is.

maccored

maccored wrote: »

that initially was my thought - but there could have been some form of christmas decoration on the tree. It looks like the image is where the small tree in the garden is.

Nothing on the tree.

Wolfe Tone

Is it deffo behind the tree?

MUSSOLINI

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Is it deffo behind the tree?

It seems to be, when I zoom in it looks like a branch is on front of the image.

Monty Burnz

Grimes wrote: »

Im not saying its a ghost or anything but that sort of supposition is just as irresponsible as claiming its a spirit.

When people say things like "Someone hung something on the tree outside the house. That's all there is to it."it really gets my goat. You cannot possibly say for certain thats what it is. It annoys me as much as if someone were to say "well its a ghost, thats all there is to it".

I'm not sure what the custom is on this board, so apologies if I break a rule here or something, but the bit in bold strikes me as incorrect. I can hang something on a tree any time you like to prove that that is possible. Can you show me a ghost as easily? Or at all?

I think we are in the realms of 'extraordinary claims require extroardinary proof'. We all know it is possible for a light to be on in a doorway, or to have odd reflections that look like something, or to have someone there for a moment that we didn't notice. These are all everyday, common occurrences. Only when you can totally rule those out can you look for something paranormal - and I don't think we can based on that picture.

Monty Burnz

Monty Burnz wrote: »

We all know it is possible for a light to be on in a doorway, or to have odd reflections that look like something, or to have someone there for a moment that we didn't notice. These are all everyday, common occurrences. Only when you can totally rule those out can you look for something paranormal - and I don't think we can based on that picture.

Can't rule anything out, normal or paranormal, all I say is it's an odd picture that I and others can't 100% explain.

DANNY22XX

not being a fuddy duddy why is it this time every year peeps come on to the boards show of their new camera they got of santa then say its paranormal im sorry its about as paranormal as a gonad,,, check with the nieghbours or try to recreate its called common sense just check with the the peeps across the road its called and orange flash light its the light thats used for to focus before the flash got to love the orange street lamps to add to it


scary isnt it:D

Riamfada

Monty Burnz wrote: »

I'm not sure what the custom is on this board, so apologies if I break a rule here or something, but the bit in bold strikes me as incorrect. I can hang something on a tree any time you like to prove that that is possible. Can you show me a ghost as easily? Or at all?

Unfortunately the realms of the ordinary also require proof. My point is that just because the theory that it is something plausible in the realm of proven phsyics dosnt make it automatically so. So far in this thread people have said it is

• hall light on
• reflection of snow
• man in coat
• christmas tree decoration
• satellite dish

All I am saying is that, it is not right to for people to scoff at the original suggestion that it may be a phantom and have people throw out what they "know" it is just because these things exist in the known world. Claiming so without any proof or expertise in the subject is just as ridiculous as me telling you it is a light reflection from the Moon.

If hellboy would PM me the address of the house I would be more than happy to go and have a non imposing look at the house. Im not looking for a ghost,im looking for an answer to this riddle.

PS: If it was a decoration, who the hell takes their decorations down on St Stephen's day!

MyKeyG

It's funny I was watching the One Show on BBC last year and they had this guy on who was explaining how the advances in photographic analysis had refuted pictures that were long regarded to be bona fide evidence of supernatural activity. He showed them in their original format (freaky as hell) and then the digitally enhanced versions showing that they were nothing. One of them was like an evil face on a rock in the background of a picture taken of a couple at the beach 20 years ago. Then he showed the enhanced version and it was nothing more than a mixture of rock and seaweed.

The point is the mind and the eyes are like an old married couple. Very often they just don't agree.

DANNY22XX

DANNY22XX wrote: »

not being a fuddy duddy why is it this time every year peeps come on to the boards show of their new camera they got of santa then say its paranormal

First off it's not a new camera, I've had it and been taking pictures for years with it, and this is the first time I have had something like this show up in a picture. I also didn't say it was paranormal either. I posted it up here looking for opinions and help as to what it could be. I was going to post it up in the photography section but as it looked like a figure I thought it would get moved to this section so I just posted it here.

loldog

DANNY22XX wrote: »

not being a fuddy duddy.... etc:rolleyes:

HE DIDN'T SAY IT WAS PARANORMAL!

KeithAFC

All i will say it only matters what you think. I know what paradolia can do but if you are 100% sure there was no one there, then it is an odd one because its shape looks exactly like the shape of a human body.

And Grimes, that photo you posted is also interesting. Again, you say no one was there but some people aren't too sure. If no one was there, then what is that? Because its obviously something.

fryup

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Go show it to the neighbours and ask them

SIMPLE SOLUTION - ask the neighbours

Abelloid

I still say it's the light through the window, it seem very obvious to me and I can't see how it could possibly be anything else.

zuroph

Ghost. of a cop. a really tall cop.

gondorff

The areas inside the circles display similar effects due to the street lamp, which appears to be perpendicular to the door.

The reason the effects are similar on the snow as on the glass is because they are both frosted surfaces and the resultant glow is due to the diffusion of light. This is why the effect cannot be seen in the other windows.

It is quite plain to see there is no light coming from inside the house, in fact OP states that the house is unoccupied.

Proximity of street lamp.
Diffusion of light on non-smooth reflective surfaces.
Some convenient shapes.

A very interesting effect!

gondorff

gondorff wrote: »

The areas inside the circles display similar effects due to the street lamp, which appears to be perpendicular to the door.

The reason the effects are similar on the snow as on the glass is because they are both frosted surfaces and the resultant glow is due to the diffusion of light. This is why the effect cannot be seen in the other windows.

It is quite plain to see there is no light coming from inside the house, in fact OP states that the house is unoccupied.

Proximity of street lamp.
Diffusion of light on non-smooth reflective surfaces.
Some convenient shapes.

A very interesting effect!

Thanks for that gondorff Think you could be right and the tree branches are giving the shape of a person as they are blocking out parts of the light.
If I had the camera on a tripod and had it take a series of pictures would it show in all of them or is it just a case of a once off trick of the light ?

CMpunked

So its the same effect as what is in the top right of the original picture (which everyone seems to have not noticed.)

Wolfe Tone

So its a reflection from the window?