Before I start let me state that I am a confirmed sceptic, but not one that is closed to the idea of possible paranormal phenomena, that's why you will see me out at investigations every other weekend, otherwise why would I bother?

Orbs are often referred to as Spirit Lights, by believers and psychics which is a pretty good description of what they themselves believe that they are. The vast majority of sceptics most of CaSPIR included strongly believe that all orbs are explainable, in fact as an (Open Minded) sceptic my normal comment is orbs schmorbs!

It is extremely rare for orbs to be seen with the naked eye, they are almost always seen captured on still photographs and frequently on Infra Red Night Vision Video. Orbs were recorded long ago on both Plate, and older 35 mm stills as light trails, virtually right back to the earliest cameras, but their true nature only became known when good quality night vision video and digital still cameras became more widely available.

Sadly in my experience almost all orbs have a far more mundane explanation; legs and even wings have been seen upon closer examination. An orbs whole existence in the vast majority of cases is due to the light from a flash, the moon, a torch or of course an IR light. The nearer the light source is to the camera lens the more likely you will pick up dust close to the lens that has been illuminated. Move the light source forward and out by half a meter and no more orbs, easily explainable ones at least.

Pieces of floating fluff, dust and on occasion cobwebs have also been recorded. Cobwebs by the way are truly creepy when seen in motion. The usual give away is that the orb in the form of a string or a lacy shape is seen moving from high up to low down or moving along in a draft. Creepily can appear to follow behind people walking on video, there are some pretty good examples around on the internet. I cannot blame anyone for thinking they have caught something, its not until you do experiments with cobwebs that the penny drops. To make matters worse cobwebs can change shape in flight making them even harder to recognise, the creepiest form is one that looks like a human arm, it even moves from side to side in the draft.

Anyone who says all orbs are spirits needs to take a deep breath of caffeine and then do a simple experiment, take one night vision camera on a tripod and a pinch of dust after taking a few control frames for say 30 seconds . Hold you dust above the camera about 10 - 20 centimetres forward from the lens and sprinkle. You should now have more orbs than you have ever seen all moving about in the air currents, move around or disturb the air and the orbs change direction. Once you try this experiment you will never trust orbs again.  Also remember that what you see on the photograph as a round little ball of light is actually only a highlighted section of the actual air particle that the flash has reflected off of!,

For the reason given above any orb images should always be treated as being explainable as insects, dust etc until proven otherwise, unless there is VERY strong evidence to the contrary! And I mean evidence not blind belief.

We have been able to produce convincing Orb pictures in locations that have no haunted history at all, by deliberately sprinkling specks of dust or spraying a water mist a couple of feet from the camera and letting it blow in a draft. Without exception these pictures have been viewed as genuine by fairly knowledgeable Investigators, until I later disclose the deliberate deception that we set up for experimental purposes.

While I am not suggesting that deliberate fakes are common with other groups, on the contrary I do not think that they are, but it is very easy to be unintentionally in good faith mislead when with a little thought a more rational explanation is possible.

One quite well known picture on the Web shows a large number of coloured Orbs in the sky. Close examination of this picture, particularly a small piece of wall that is just visible in the bottom right hand corner of the image gives the reason for the Orbs. The wall has a light covering of Snow, further close examination of other areas confirms that it has in fact been snowing.

The Orbs are in fact out of focus Snow Flakes. While I would not cry fake at the publishers of the picture, who have published this picture in good faith, it is hard to ignore the fact that the photographer must have been fully aware of the deception.  As a point of interest out of focus orbs are often the reason a 'glowing edge' is seen around some of them!

Beware of finding Orbs in known haunted locations. You are expecting to find orbs and you can easily be tricked into thinking that you have found what you are looking for by blind belief. It "may" be an Orb, but it is significantly more likely that it is due to  fluff, cobwebs, pollen, insects or dust particles.

One paranormal urban myth that I need to dispel is the one that says that high mega pixel cameras are immune to dust orbs. Experiments show that they are just as prone if the light source is close to the axis of the lens, but they are exceptionally fainter. 

Another common light anomaly that crops up with great regularity is mist or breath. I am often told that "I was not breathing out at the time", ok, but breath can hang around in the air for some time. Pick a nice clear moonlight night in winter and breath out keeping the light on the breath and you will see what I mean. Always suspect mist if it appears close to the camera and is rising. Guess where your nose and mouth are in relation to the lens.

Mist is another one to be wary of, it may not look misty, but when you fire off a flash you will be surprised how often it is. There are some very good little data loggers that can be used to monitor the atmosphere during an investigation. If they are the type that measures both humidity and temperature they can tell you how close you are to the dew point, at the dew point mist can readily occur on a cool night or in a cool place like a cellar.

As  post script there is no documented evidence, note evidence, that orbs are only seen in haunted locations although I have met misguided believers who say that everywhere is haunted hence why orbs are so common. If everywhere is haunted then why do we paranormal investigators not see more other types of phenomena at investigations in alleged haunted locations? It makes you stop and think when you have had a run of investigations where absolutely nothing has happened