What causes brightly coloured lines to appear on digital photos?

Question

I took a series of photos of a wall in a haunted house. One of the photos had a bunch of very bright lines through the top center part. All the other photos appeared quite dark. I did not move, or change camera settings. The room was very dimmly lit, and did not have any lighting within camera view.

Any suggestions on what could have caused this?

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Well, if you didn't use a flash on your camera, you undoubtedly had a long exposure time and a grainy image, and I would doubt there is anything trustworthy you could say about the photo. You'd very likely see blurred lines with a hand-held camera.

If you used a flash, again something along the same lines could happen. If the flash didn't illuminate the wall well enough (you were too far back), you'd still have a long exposure time plus you could have shiny spots on the wall (e.g., nails or hooks for hanging pictures, quite likely) reflecting the flash back. With the long exposure time and a hand-held camera, you could get relatively bright unsteady lines on the photo. Depending on how the camera processes the image, the amount of image compression, etc., , the lines may show some coloration.

I'd recommend using a digital SLR with a unipod or a tripod and optionally a remote shutter release.

EDIT: By the way, somebody posted a rather silly myth below suggesting that power companies intentionally introduce surges of 10,000 volts into residential houses. This is absurd, since such surges would causing electric arcing in the electrical outlets, destroy most appliances and lighting fixtures. and fry any plugged in electronic equipment in the house. Imagine the lawsuits! In reality, the household voltage varies only ±5%, which means high-voltage power lines also vary only ±5% -- not much of a change, is it? And the high-voltage supply lines running down your street are probably around 14,000 V maximum, so ±5% of that would be only ±700V, not 10,000 V. If you don't believe me, you can just call your local power company and they'll tell you that there are no 10,000 V surges in the powerlines down your street or into your house. And besides, if an EM field strong enough to affect digital cameras was actually present, it would affect the whole image instead of being somehow concentrated to just a line or two. Power surges are not likely causes of bright lines in photographs.

Answer 2

Change your batteries and take more pictures. Also try other cameras. If they show the same thing there may be activity there.

Answer 3

This can be caused by a number of things. Problems with the camera, flash, or memory card. From your description I am guessing you used an inexpensive point and shoot camera. Its meant to take pictures of your family, or your best friend playing at the beach. Your camera has automatic adjustments which were trying desperately to adjust to a real bad photography situation.

I am not sure what you are attempting to accomplish from standing in a dimly lit room taking pictures of the wall. It sounds like you were setting up for this photo.

One of the things that always mystifies me, is ghost hunters spending thousands of dollars on electic field sensors, infrared sensors and meters, and all kinds of crazy expensive equipment. Then they pull out the $60 walmart special point and shoot camera. (no offense to walmart, they have some good deals there)  Why would you not get a decent Digital SLR with a decent lens?

The real answer is, you catch more ghosts with a cheap point and shoot which is more prone to errors.

Answer 4

if you did not have your flash on. i have no idea. but if you were using a flash. that right there could be your prob. i see a lot of (orbs). said to be ghosts or other things. 9 out of 10 its dust. every what it sounds like your talking a bought. is what people think is a moving orb. looks like a bright streek of lighton the screen. test this out. haing 1 hare from your head in frount of the camra lens. not on the lins but within 2 in. and take a pic with the flash on. see if it looks any thing like what you got.

Answer 5

Well, if they're LINES then they're obviously NOT orbs.

I have a few suggestions as to what they may be... (please refer to the following links so you can compare your own photos with them):

1) "Streaming ghost energy" - http://ghoststudy.com/white_streams44.jp...

These are streaming lines of energy.

2) "Light Rod" - http://ghoststudy.com/light_rod.jpg

These are either a form of 'rod' or a type of light shaft.

3) "Ectoplasm" (also know as Ghostly mist, Ecto-mist or vapor) - http://ghoststudy.com/whitemass2.jpg

It is now associated and referred to as a mist or fog, and it usually displays a swirl effect within a vaporous cloud. It normally appears several feet off the ground and can linger or travel quickly at will. It's usual colors are gray, white or black but has also been seen and photographed in several other colors. Ecto has been caught on both video & all types of cameras. It's important to note however, that a camera can inadvertently create this effect artificially in cold weather by a person exhaling to close to the lens when taking the picture. The exhaled breath looks similar to ectoplasm but without the swirls.

Believed by many to be the soul or spirit of those that have passed on from this life. It has been speculated that the spirit will transform to this vaporous state before appearing as a full-bodied apparition.

4) "Vortex" (also know an a funnel ghost) - http://ghoststudy.com/vortex444.jpg

A vortex is a very strange and mysterious phenomena. They usually take on the appearance of a swirling funnel shape when moving about. They can also appear in pictures as being long and narrow and having a tread like design within their body. They are readily confused with a speeding orb when they slow down and take on this straight & narrow look. It's not presently known if a vortex has ever been captured on video tape. It should be noted that they are often felt as a cold spot.  

Hope these help.

Anyway, sometimes you do get some odd effects caught on camera - and they can look ghostly. Orbs can be faked quite easily (I've experimented this) through several different techniques.

Sometimes you can get insects in front of the lens too, and depending on the shutter speed of your camera, and exposure length - sometimes (SOMETIMES) they can look like long blurring lines. THis creates the look of the "Streaming ghost energy" (see above) - and can also happen if your batteries are low (or your camera freezes). The same effect is achieved if your own hair gets in front of the lens (sometimes even the strap of the camera can do the same)...

But of course, if you've got an abnormal colored 'lines'... WELL... it might help contacting Jim from Ghoststudy.com, he'll help you out.

Answer 6

First off without seeing the pictures and without knowing the type of camera was used makes it a little hard to give a real answer to your question, but I'll give it a shot.

Now my opinion as a paranormal investigator is that this could possibly be what we like to refer to as a sperm orb (term came from Jason Hess from Rock Island Paranormal, and has been used by TAPS members), but again without seeing a picture it would be hard to truly tell what it is.

Another theory could be the film that was used (depending on what type of camera you used) it could have been exposed to some sort of light, or the pictures came out so dark because your settings were wrong, or you didn't use the flash setting.

Now another theory is that it can be slight movement that you didn't realize that was made while taking the photo, it happens, even as a paranormal investigator I have taken such photos and had to analyze them to figure out what they actually were.

Another theory could be that there were fibers (hair, string, cobwebs, camera strap...) that could have gotten in the way while you were taking the picture and they can cause the bright colored lines in the picture(s)

Like I said there are different variables for this scenario and without seeing the picture(s) it is really hard to tell. I'm sorry that I couldn't be of any more help to you.

Answer 7

it's a ghost it's a ghost it's a ghost, scary scary scary........ !!!!!

Tell me... you used a super crappy mobile phone camera ?!??!

Answer 8

some ghosts cause major electric interference,

try an old fashioned "film camera" to get pictures in a haunted area, they should come out clearer, or just wait till the ghost goes away for a few min., then you can get clear pictures of the house.

another camera of brand may work better.

if your talking about the pictures only after you printed them, then it is likely a print cartridge problem.

Answer 9

Static electricity across your camera's CCD.

Answer 10

Light refractions.

Answer 11

Probably just a slip of your camera.

Answer 12

no idea. if the house was really "haunted" it might just have been an electricla charge, or change of temperature

Answer 13

You may have moved while the camera was trying to focus in the low light.

Answer 14

Evil sprits

Answer 15

A surge of electricity will cause bright vertical or horizontal lines to appear in photos using digital cameras. Electric companies have test all the time that surges lines which effects the Electra-magnetic fields. These test are normally about 10,000 volts and if a test is being done at the same moment your snapping a photo then the photo will be effected. as for dark photos could be your lighting. if your using LCD lighting against a wall can reflect off the wall which will make your photo come out darker. to avoid this backing away from a wall would help and using HD lighting.

edit: Main powerlines are tested with high voltage to check for weakness in the lines. not to be confused with power supply lines that link from the transfomer to your home. you can check this information out by calling any local electric company.