Present day science recognizes two basic states of being, matter and energy. Both of these states of being
are detectable and measurable using physical world instrumentation. Because their existence can be
detected and measured within physical reality scientists are confident of the existence of matter and energy.
If something exists which is neither matter nor energy, an invisible, nonphysical reality for example,
since scientists cannot detect or measure it they tend to deny its existence. And by extension scientists will
deny the existence of anythiing that might exist within such an invisible, undetectable reality. For science
telepathy; near death experiences; out of body experiences; ghosts; communication with the deceased;
and a host of other phenomenon cannot exist because, if they do exist, they do so within an invisible,
nonphysical reality. Maybe there is a way to open a doorway science can use to begin their exploration of
this so called, "nonphysical reality." Maybe you can use this doorway to prove to yourself such a realm exists.
A first step toward bringing these phenomena into the realm of present day scientific exploration might be
to provide scientists and others with a means of "seeing" objects within this "invisible" reality. That's what this
Digital Phantom Leaf Photography Project is about. It is intended to provide a simple tool anyone can use to obtain
photographic evidence for the existence of, for lack of a better term, a nonphysical reality. Specifically,
it is a simplified method of photographing what has for many years been called the, "Phantom Leaf Effect."
If you do a Google web search of "phantom leaf" or "Kirlian photography" you will find a huge volume of
information on what a phantom leaf is and a high voltage, corona discharge form of photography previously
used to obtain photographic evidence of its existence. Rather than go into all the gory
details here I will leave it to you to explore that topic in depth. Basically, it is claimed that when a portion
of a physical plant leaf is removed some of the nonphysical structure of the leaf remains in the now
physically "empty" space. The claim or belief is that this invisible, or "phantom," leaf exists within a
nonphysical reality, thus implying the existence of such a reality. Furthermore, Kirlian believers claim
that their high voltage, corona discharge form of photography can provide images of these "phantom leaves."
Suffice it to say that for scientists Kirlian photography is at best a controversial method and most of them
don't believe its claims.
So if us ordinary folks want to know whether or not phantom leaves actually exist, implying the existence of
an invisible, nonphysical realm of reality, who do we believe? Do we take on the beliefs of scientists and
skeptics who claim no such thing exists? Or do we take on the beliefs of Kirlian photgraphy wizards? You know me.
I'm not inclined to take on the beliefs of others, nor am I inclined to suggest anyone take on my beliefs. Instead, I
advocate having your own direct experience and drawing your own conclusions.
Kirlian photography is a complicated, electonic-hardware-intensive (and for the novice) dangerous, high-voltage
method. I felt that what was needed was a simple, safe method almost anyone with a camera and a computer could
use to make their own phantom leaf pictures. That is what this Digital Phantom Leaf Photography project is
This method of making the invisible, nonphysical realm visible in photographs is a work in progress. Those of you
who might be interested and/or capable of helping further development of this Open Source Project are encouraged to
join in. Feel free to post about your interest, capabilities, questions, etc. on the
Paranormal Pictures Webpage on
this Afterlife Knowledge website.
Below you'll find an explanation of Digital Phantom Leaf Photography and some of the present state of the art
Cottonwood Tree Leaf
In order to help explain how Digital Phantom Leaf Photography is
done this image shows how the process begins. A freashly picked
cottonwood tree leaf has been hung from a clip between the camera lens
and a uniform white background. For the background I spray painted
a metal sheet (old computer side panel) using flat white enamel.
The photo was taken in direct sunlight on a cloudless day to ensure
uniform density lighting. Uniform background lighting intensity is at
prestent critical to this method. The camera was a Canon G2 outputting
a RAW format image file that is converted to a lossless, TIF file.
It may be possible to use lossy image file formats such as JPG, time and
experimentation will tell.
After Removing a Leaf Portion
A portion of leaf has been removed and the result is shown in this image. If
a phantom leaf exists it will be seen in that empty space of the missing leaf.
Phantom Leaf Operating Theory
1. A nonphysical leaf structure coexists with the physical structure of the leaf.
2. If a portion of the physical leaf is removed, the cooresponding nonphysical leaf structure
continues to exist within that region of space for some period time.
3. The nonphysical leaf structure interacts with light passing through that region of space in
such a way as to alter the paths of light.
4. If a uniform intensity, white background is photographed through the phantom leaf region of space,
the resulting image of that background will show variations in its light intensity.
5. A method such as psuedo-coloring of these light intensity variations will display a representation
of the phantom leaf structure.
6. In principle this pseudo-coloring technique of light intensity is the same as that
used by a television weatherman to use colors to display air temperatures to the audience.
A Phantom Leaf Image Examples
The next pair of photographs show an example of the Digital Phantom Leaf Effect. These were my very first
ever, crude but successful, digital phantom leaf images from early development of the method. The leaf in
this example was photographed with the bottom surface of the leaf facing the camera. The image on the left
is a cropped version of the whole leaf image that shows only the portion of the leaf that was later removed.
This image is provided just to make it easier to compare the physical structure of the leaf with any
nonphysical structure present in the image on the right.
The image on the right was created using the photograph of its leaf made after the physical portion was removed.
To create this Digital Phantom Leaf Photograph special digital image processing is used. In this process
the digital image is analyzed, pixel by pixel, for variations in light intensity. Those intensity variations
are colorized, or pseudo-colored, to display any phantom leaf structures that might be present.
The phantom image is very faint and only a small section of the structure of one of the two large leaf veins
can be seen. Look closely and see if you can the spot the phantom leaf vein structure in the picture on the right.
The next pair of photographs show another example of the Digital Phantom Leaf Effect. This example though
still quite crude, shows more of this phantom leaf's vein structure. Again, the vein structure is faint but
in this photgraph it appears in a darker color than the surrounding phantom leaf area. Quite a bit of the
vein structure is visible in the photograph. You are looking for patterns in the image on the right that
correspond to the physical leaf vein patterns in the image on the left. See how much of it you can spot.
Please feel free to post any comments about these images or this project on the
Paranormal Pictures Webpage