Ghostvillage.com News
February 18, 2002 - #10

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Dear Ghostvillagers,
Welcome to the tenth installment of the Ghostvillage.com newsletter. Be sure to pass this on to people you feel will be interested, and encourage your friends to sign up at Ghostvillage.com.

Connecticut’s Old Leatherman
The Leatherman article is now complete and online in the Legends section. The Leatherman is a wandering hobo who traveled in a 365-mile circle between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers during the second half of the 1800s. The article includes pictures of The Leatherman as well as images from one of his many caves in the foothills of Connecticut.

Support Ghostvillage.com
I want to bring to your attention some new banner ads that have been running in Ghostvillage.com. You may have the seen the "Click to Pay - Amazon Honor System" ads throughout the Web site. Running this Web site takes a great deal of time and money, and what the "Click to Pay" feature does is allow you to make a direct contribution to Ghostvillage.com's growing expenses. Even if you can contribute only one dollar, it will help greatly to offset some of the costs.

From the Town Square - Explanation of Orbs from Olympus
POSTED: February 17, 2002 by Jeff Belanger

I have taken (and posted) pictures that contain orbs in them.  I emailed customer support at Olympus (the manufacturer of my camera) and asked their opinion on one of my pictures.  

I emailed them the original version of this picture: http://www.ghostvillage.com/encounters/2001index.htm#jbpittpa042701

Here is my email to Olympus:

>>Three of these semi-transparent circles are obvious (one over the rail on the right, one over the car, and one over the rail on the left.) Others are more subtle, like the semi-transparent circle between the two car doors on the white car, and a faint circle on the man's back.

The picture taken before this one and after it have no such circles.  Obviously this was taken in low light, but I have seen the same results in broad daylight (and not facing the sun, these are different from a solar glare).

Any ideas what's causing this, and what can prevent it?<<

The response from Olympus:

Thank you for contacting Olympus Digital Technical Support in the United States.

Under certain conditions, digital cameras may produce random white spots in pictures when using the flash.  This situation is usually more noticeable on camera designs where the internal flash is physically required to be close to the picture taking lens.

Although the exact cause of this situation is not known, this is believed to be caused by light (from the flash) bouncing off of an object in the picture scenario then reflecting back into the lens.  The "object" could even be dust or moisture in the air.  The light bouncing around inside the lens, also referred to as "lens flare", may cause these random white spots to occur in some pictures.  The spots are random, so the location, quantity, and intensity of the spots may vary from picture to picture and may not occur in all flash pictures.

Once downloaded to a computer, the picture can generally be easily corrected with minimal time and effort using an image editing program to remove the white spots.  Many image editing programs have a "cloning" tool that can be used to reproduce the nearest neighboring pixels to cover the white spots.  Please refer to the software program documentation for specific instructions on using the different tools and techniques to touch up the picture.

If the image quality due to this situation is deemed unsatisfactory, the option of sending the camera to Olympus for evaluation and/or service is always available.

...End of Olympus Email...

Their explanation doesn't account for daylight pictures that contain orbs where the flash isn't used.  I'll post more if I get any further explanation.

More on the Town Square Message Boards
I have been receiving some complaints lately that some people get abusive and don't respect others' opinions. Please be advised that members can be permanently banned from the message boards. Their accounts can be deleted and their computer's specific IP address can be blocked. The message boards are meant to be a place where people of all opinions and backgrounds can share information, disagree, and explore the unknown together. If you have a problem with any other member, please solve it through email or get me involved directly.

Ghostvillage.com Quick Stats:
5045 Messages in the Town Square Message Boards
6 "Encounters" listed so far in 2002.
180 Paranormal Web sites in the Ghost Search directory
285 People have signed up for free Ghostvillage.com G-Mail.
590 Subscribers to this newsletter.

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Remember, this is your Web site! Your input, ideas, photographs, recordings, and experiences are welcomed. Please email us anytime at info@ghostvillage.com.

Happy Hauntings,

Jeff Belanger
info@ghostvillage.com
Mayor of Ghostvillage.com


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