Investigating photography

The origin of the term ‘the camera never lies’ appears lost in the ether and while many believe the statement true, the presumption has almost always been completely false…

The invention of photography has been attributed by history to Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce in 1823 with his image, The View from the Window at La Gras now thought to be the oldest surviving photograph, dating between 1826-27. Within thirty years of the La Gras image being taken, there were those experimenting with new technologies such as double exposure – and linked to the meteoric rise of the Spiritualist Movement, those that saw the opportunity for profit.

Perhaps out of all of the ghost photographers of the late 19th century, William Mumler was perhaps the most notorious. His ‘spirit photography’ techniques appeared to be able to capture the ghost of a deceased relative when photographed with one of his clients – with remarkable regularity. The theory is that he used a pre-prepared glass plate holding the ‘ghost” image and superimposed it over a clean plate, or vice versa. While he was eventually tried for fraud he was actually acquitted, but the public backlash against Mumler didn’t stop other photographers following his footsteps.

Now fast-forward to the present day. Carefully prepared glass plates aren’t needed anymore… just a computer or a phone. There’s free software out there for editing images, and apps for superimposing fake ghosts on images. 

I got my first digital camera in 2003, after fifteen years of using old fashioned film photography. The idea that a photograph could be checked and if necessary deleted and retaken without having to send the film off to be processed and printed was fantastic, and the quality was decent too… after all my first digi, the Kodak CX4200, sported a massive 2 megapixels! Twenty two years later, the cameras I use at work have 21 megapixels, while my phone has (allegedly) a 50 megapixel capability… Its a different world technologically, but the con-artists are still at it…

This section seeks to investigate the methodologies behind alleged paranormal photographs and answer the question on why the images we see on the camera aren’t always what we think they are.