Kirlian Photography

Above: Photographs using Kirlian technique

Weither you believe in spiritual energy, charkas, auras, a soul or nothing at all. These Photos and Photography techniques are just weird and awesome!

To start off with we'll look a little bit in to Kirlian photography. The Kirlian technique is named after it's accidental discoveror/inventor Semyon Kirlian in 1939.

He discovered that "if an object on a photographic plate is connected to a source of high voltage, small corona dischrges (created by the strong electric feilds at the edges of the object) create an image on the photographic plate."

Kirlian technique is so weird and cool because it is a contact photography technique meaning the object has to come in contact with the film or film paper. The image appears when "the subject is in direct contact with a film placed upon a metal plate charged with high voltage, high frequency electricity."

This later lead his rediscoveries of these listed techniques of photography: "electrography," "electrophotography," and "corona discharge photography".


Now Kirlin believed that he had photographed what we know as the life energy that is in everything, which some people call aura or soul. But others think that his technique only photographed the electric field or the emf that all things have. This is still a contorversial argument.

even though Kirlian photography was a precoursor to aura photography it is very different.
"Kirlian photography is completely different from aura photography, in which a colorful image is produced of a person's face and upper torso by interpreting galvanic skin responses and adding color to the photograph using a printer. The images made with an Aura camera do not result from coronal discharge. In aura photography, no high voltage is involved as with the Kirlian technique, and no direct contact with the film is made."

Above: Photograph of a leaf using the Kirlian technique

vs.

Below: Photograph of multiple human subjects using the Aura photography technique

A few cool websites:

Kirlian research site: http://www.kirlian.com/

Build your own Kirlian equipment: http://www.imagesco.com/articles/kirlian/kirlian-photography.html

A few cool videos about Kirlian photography:

Kirlian Photography Explination: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDOi1BLoN3U

Kirlian Imaging Reel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nze9I3L4vrE