For 35mm cameras:
- Open your film and load your camera after walking around the location for about 20 minutes first.
- Use at least 400 speed 35 mm film. 400 and 800 speeds work the best. Black and White film also works well.
- If you are an experienced photographer, you may want to try infrared film which also has had excellent results in the past.
General Photo Tips:
- Make sure you note any other lights in the area so when you view your developed pictures you will not think a street light is an orb.
- Make sure you clean your camera's lens regularly.
- No smoking at the location, this can appear like mist on the photos so you don't want to contaminate your evidence.
- Watch for dust or dirt being stirred up in the area you are photographing. They can give false positive pictures.
- All long hair should be tied back or under a hat, again this is to eliminate any false positive pictures and to give the skeptics less ammunition.
- Remove or tie up any camera straps so you don't take a picture of that, it looks like a vortex when photographed.
- Don't bother with your cameras viewfinder. Hold the camera out in front of you and aim at the area you want to take a picture of. Many newer digital cameras do not even come with view finders. This also helps in cold weather by keeping your camera away from your breath.
- Watch for reflective surfaces and make notes of them. The flash reflected off shiny surfaces such as windows, polished tombstones, etc. can look light an orb or other anomaly.
- Make note of street lights and any other light source that may appear on the film.
- Let fellow investigators know when you are taking a photo so that you don't get double flashes and the night scope operators can look away.
- If you think you have a double flash photo or any other false positive, log the picture number so you can exclude that photo from the batch when they are developed.
- Night scope operators can get eye damage if they are looking at a flash through the scope so this is important.
- In cold weather be conscious of your breath so you don't photograph that, it'll look like ectoplasm mist. If you think you may have, log that picture number and discard it when you develop the pictures.
- Many people like to ask the spirit if they can take their picture , it can't hurt.
- Take pictures anywhere and everywhere. If you feel some thing or someone else does, take a picture.
- Did you think you saw something, take a picture.
- Take photos whenever you get a positive readings on any piece of equipment.
- Sometimes you will see an orb, mist or sparkles in your flash or others flashes, take more pictures right there, you may be near a spirit.
- You may only get about 1- 2 pictures for every 50 you take, that's about the average, so don't get discouraged. I've been at sites where I didn't get any and others where 30% of the ones we took were positive.
- Don't pay for fancy developing , you can get them developed anywhere. Just let them developers know to process and print every photo. I use the local discount stores photo service.