Digital Kirlian Photography

Shoot “auras” without film. By John Iovine

Kirlian photography records a high-voltage corona discharge around objects. Some people call this discharge an “aura” and attribute metaphysical and paranormal factors to its varying parameters. Originally, Kirlian photography was a contact print process that used film. This article illustrates another method of shooting Kirlian photographs, using a digital camera.

The technique can be traced back to the late body” persisting where the physical leaf no longer 1700s, when Georg Christoph Lichtenberg first existed. Many researchers and experimenters have created “electro-photographs” in dust using static been unable to replicate this effect (myself included) electricity and sparks. Nikola Tesla photographed although it is easy to fake with a simple double corona discharges using his famous Tesla coil in the exposure: take a short exposure of the entire leaf, 1880s and in the early 1900s. Others followed, and then cut off a piece and continue the exposure. in 1939, the Russian husband-wife research team, Although I have never observed any paranormal Semyon and Valentina Kirlian, began their 30-year phenomena with Kirlian photography, I like Kirlian investigation into electro-photography techniques. photographs, which are unique and often beautiful.

In 1970, the landmark fringe book, Psychic I also like exploring, so I’ve continued to look for the

Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain by Sheila phantom leaf effect over the years, taking sporadic

Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, popularized the excursions back into Kirlian photography when I

Kirlians’ work in the English-speaking world, and think of new twists to incorporate. If the phantom electro-photography has been known as Kirlian leaf effect exists and someone finds an exact com-photography ever since. bination of voltage, frequency, pressure, ambient

Many claims have been made regarding Kirlian humidity, exposure time, and other experimental images, but most phenomena have conventional parameters that can reproduce it consistently, it explanations. For example, changes in the “aura” will be the starting point of a new paradigm. of an honest individual who is lying result from the same stress-related increase in galvanic skin resistance that a polygraph lie detector measures. Changes in skin resistance can also be caused by illness, fatigue, drug or alcohol consumption, and other factors, which make these conditions observable using Kirlian photography with no paranormal “bio-plasma” explanation required. The Kirlians themselves believed that their photography could diagnose illnesses before noticeable symptoms manifested, an idea that generated interest, but was never verified by scientific investigation.

One famous Kirlian phenomenon, the “phantom leaf,” cannot be explained by known physical laws — but it may be a fake. The experiment is easy to perform: you take a Kirlian photograph of a leaf after cutting off a small portion. Phantom leaf photos from Soviet-era proponents showed the removed portion of the leaf appearing as a ghostly apparition, suggesting an ethereal “bio-plasma

Photography by John Iovine

FILM AND DIGITAL TECHNIQUES

The process for traditional, film-based Kirlian photography is simple. In complete darkness, place sheet film on top of a metal plate, and then an object to photograph on top of the film. If the object is inanimate, ground it. Then apply high voltage to the plate momentarily. The corona discharge between the object and high voltage plate is recorded onto the film as a contact print. Develop, and you have a Kirlian photograph of the object.

To shoot Kirlian photographs with a digital camera requires a slightly different technique that uses a transparent discharge plate instead of a metal plate. This discharge plate has a coating of tin oxide on one side that is so thin it is visually transparent, but still electrically conductive.

Place the object on one side of the plate and the camera on the other. As with the film process, connect the object to an earth ground if it’s inanimate.

66 Make: Volume 09