Kirlian Photography: Building Your Own Equipment (imagesco.com)
64 points by joebig 11 hours ago
arjie 4 hours ago
The company is quite old! They have some old YouTube videos depicting how their stuff is used[0].
Some of their videos allude to kickstarter which made check! Kickstarter is 17 years old. Man, I remember the early days of it. Boy!
gus_massa 2 hours ago
I like this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX-rGLNSoFM more technical details in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRKIGhOJ5Ew
UI_at_80x24 10 hours ago
IIRC this was debunked as ...The plate/glass was not thoroughly cleaned between photos...
I.E. the leaf left residue on the glass.
Eridanus2 7 hours ago
It appears to be a form of DBD (dielectric breakdown discharge). Setting aside the para-physical claims, that aspect of it seems reproducible, as a fun science demo, at least.
gus_massa 5 hours ago
I agree, the Kirian photography is real, but the GP is taking about the paranormal claims, in particular the torn leaf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirlian_photography#Torn_leaf_...
(Are the original photographs available somewhere? I found only bad modern photoshoped versions, and even a guy that made a debunking video and then his photos were repeated as confirmation evidence.)
Eridanus2 4 hours ago
dvfjsdhgfv 4 hours ago
This is specifically addressed in the article, at length.
47282847 7 hours ago
I consider it a given that any living organism radiates (heat) energy: there is constant energy and matter exchange with its surroundings; a foundational aspect of life. I consider it at least a possibility that by looking at this radiation, you can find correlations between balanced “health” (new age speak: intact Aura), and potential imbalances, and thus that it may work as a diagnostic tool.
jstanley 7 hours ago
You can measure someone's temperature to find out if they have a fever, is that the kind of thing you're suggesting?
47282847 4 hours ago
JKCalhoun 10 hours ago
"Kirlian's work was first made known to the general public in this country by a book published in 1970 by Shelia Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder titled "Psychic discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain""
Ha ha, the psychic 70's. And U.F.O.s, biorhythms…
(Loved the 1970's)
2b3a51 6 hours ago
And Rupert Sheldrake later in that decade with his theory of morphic resonance.
His son Merlin Sheldrake has written a book about fungi called Entangled Life which is quite sensible and doing very well. I noticed that the book was very carefully referenced with detailed end-notes, some like mini-essays with references to papers by a wide range of authors. These notes comprise about a third of the word count of the book. Unusual in a popsci book of this kind. I can't help thinking that this approach might be a reaction to Sheldrake senior's writings and the reaction to them.
OA is a nice Web site with practical information on what could be an interesting art-practice.
JSR_FDED 6 hours ago
The book Superlearning (also by Shelia Ostrander) made a big impression on me as a high schooler. The idea of using rhythms, music, relaxation to shift one’s brain into a highly receptive state to learn and memorize was super compelling.
Eridanus2 7 hours ago
(Loved the 1970's) I concur, Sir.
An aside: Arthur C. Doyle toured US to sumptuous throngs lecturing on consciousness, the spirit realm and seances in 1920s-ish, iirc. Someone alive in 1970 might have had recollections of that coverage/seen ACD in person and would be in a position to pass on the whiff of ether to an younger generation: hungry for transcendence and shedding of burdens.