An Orb Veil

Photo date: Sept 18, 2017. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

I took the photo below while photographing nothing but pure, clean drops of water falling against a dark background. We see another example of what I call an orb veil.  See here for hundreds of examples.

I have classified 18 types of these strange objects, as shown in the grid below. This example seems like an instance of the semi-circular type.

Parallel and Perplexing

Photo date: April 24, 2017. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

I took the photo below while photographing ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark background. We see two of the strange things I call orb veils, which have appeared in a congruent stack as they so often do. Note the strange little circles and the stripe in the orb veil in the foreground.

Another orb veil I photographed on the same day showed a brilliant color:

The Weird Sidekick of the Column of Crescents

Photo date: February 22, 2017. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

I took the photo below while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure clean water falling against a dark background. We see one of the strange objects I call orb veils. The object appeared with an apparent size of about 6 inches, taking up 60% of the original photo height. We see some of the typical characteristics of orb veils: a polygon shape with lots of spiky points, a kind of membrane-like edge, and lots of little internal circles. On the right is a column of what I call orb crescents. See here for a video showing 100+ photos of these strange orb veils.

Rings and Colors of the Orb Veil

Photo date: January 3, 2017. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

I took the photo below while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark background. We see some of the strange things I call orb veils. The one in front has several concentric rings, along with colors of orange and yellow-green.

An Orange Orb Veil

Photo date: January 3, 2017. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark background. We see what I call an orb veil, one with a color of orange. See here for 48 other photos of orange orb veils I have photographed. Andrea Corsick also often photographs orange orb veils. See here for some examples.

These strange orb veils often appear in stacks, as in the photo below showing a congruent stack of six of them.

So Many Concentric Rings in These Orb Veils

Photo date: January 3, 2017. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

I took the photos below while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark background. In these photos taken back-to-back, we see the strange things I call orb veils. No such object appeared after the second photo was taken. It was as if the object was hanging around to be photographed in consecutive photos. 

Incidentally, none of the photos on this blog have ever been taken with anything like a "microscope camera." I only use palm-sized point-and-click cameras (I don't even use 35-millimeter).

The Weird, Weird Features of the Oval Oddity

Photo date: December 30, 2016. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

I took the photo below while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark background. We see a strange object that had an apparent size of about six inches. There are numerous strange features: a big stripe; a smaller stripe that rather looks as if it is nibbling on the larger stripe; various little circular features inside the oval shape, looking like concentric rings; a membrane-like feature on the outer perimeter of the oval; and a big hole near the top.

The Gradient Colors of the Orb Veil

Photo date: June 29, 2016. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

These days I don't get very many of the strange objects I call orb veils. I used to get them much more frequently, and I have taken 186 photos of them (watch this video to see the best photos).  But on this day I got a fairly good one, one with an apparent size of about 5 inches. Notice the strange gradient progression of colors. The bottom color is orange, but then the colors progress to yellowish green and then blue.

Items for a Ghost to Wear?

Photo date: May 7, 2016. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photos below were taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background. We see gossamer-like items that almost look like clothing. The first item looks like some weird scarf, and even has strange intersecting lines. The second items looks like a sheer skirt.

An Orange Bezier Curve and Its Weird Clone

Photo date: May 7, 2016. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background. We see some of the strange things I call orb veils. The two in the back seem like examples of what mathematicians call Bezier curves.  I see these kind of congruent stacks frequently when photographing orb veils (as you can see here).  The orange orb veil had a height of about 4 inches.

Like a Beggar's Tattered Robe

Photo date: May 7, 2016. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background. We see one of the strange things I call orb veils. I often see circular spots in these things, but I have never photographed one that looks as tattered as this one, which had a height of about 4 inches.

A Semi-circular Orb Veil

Photo date: March 18, 2016. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background.  We see an example of what I call an orb veil. I have previously photographed these strange things more than 160 times, but this is the first sizable one I've photographed in quite a while. This object was about the size of a baseball.

The semi-circular type of orb veil is one of 18 types I have identified, which are shown in the visual below (open in a separate browser tab to see at higher resolution).

Day of the Mysterious Orb Veils

Photo date: December 10, 2015. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photos below were taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background.  On this day I photographed four of the strange objects I call orb veils.

Here is the first one, showing a blue orb veil. These things are usually whitish, often orange, occasionally blue and very rarely red.

Below is another one, which had the more common orange color. This one had an apparent height of about 7 inches.

Here is another one showing what looks like a stack of three congruent orb veils.

Here is one more, which also shows what looks a congruent stack of orb veils.

Below is a closeup of part of the photo above. We see three of the objects I call orb crescents: one red, one blue, and one white.

18 Types of Orb Veils

Having often photographed a mysterious anomaly I call orb veils, I have created the composite photo below showing different types of the objects.  The composite photo is a large 2542 by 1187 photo, and to see it at anything close to its original resolution, you will need to click on the image to open it in a separate browser tab. (If you are interested in the details, I suggest the additional step of copying the image from that tab into a photo editor that allows you to zoom in.)

The descriptions are pretty self-explanatory, except for "reappearing," which refers to this type of orb veil. 

The orb veils shown here were each individually shown in previous posts, and to find the full original photo you can browse through this series of posts.  These objects had an average apparent size of about 4 inches.

The photo below (from December 25, 2015) is a new photo of an orb veil. Using the categories listed above, this would probably be classified as a "spiky" orb veil.

For a discussion of the characteristics of these orb veils, along with a discussion of the inadequacy of attempts to explain them, see this post.

"Christmas Party" of the Strange Orb Veils

Photo date: December 25, 2015. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background.  We see a group of the strange objects I call orb veils, with an apparent size of about six inches.  At the top are two of the orb veils in a congruent stack, and below is another congruent stack of two other orb veils with a different shape. There is also an orange orb veil.  We see two big concentric rings that show up in these objects very often.

Paranormal Christmas Gift?

Photo date: December 25, 2015. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background. We see yet another example of one of the inexplicable things I call orb veils.  This one is orange-colored (like these 27 ones), and has the same "outer membrane" we so often see in these strange things (as in these examples), as well as two of the concentric circles that these objects very frequently have.  We also see quite a few of the mysterious objects I call orb crescents.

Objects like this only last for an instant, but for a photographer/blogger, something unexpected and interesting to photograph is like a gift.

Mystifying Marvel Looks Like a Ghost

Photo date: December 22, 2015. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background.  We see some of the strange objects I call orb veils, which appeared to have a size of several inches. Their shape looks very similar to drawings of ghosts made by children. The translucency of the one on the right is interesting.

Mysterious Object Is Like Some Weird Alien Brain

Photo date: December 19, 2015. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background.  We see one of the strange objects that I call orb veils. This one (with an apparent size of about 4 inches) has a particularly colorful bottom. Typically these strange things have one or two little concentric circles inside them, but this one has nine of these concentric circles.

See here for 123 other photos of these orb veils.

Rainbow Membrane of an Orb Veil

Photo date: December 16, 2015. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background. We see one of the strange objects I call orb veils. This one seems to have a rainbow-like membrane surrounding it. See here for a similar photo.

Paranormal Twins?

Photo date: December 11, 2015. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken while photographing ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling against a dark featureless background.  We see two of the strange things I call orb veils, which seemed to have a width of about 5 inches.  These things often appear in congruent stacks, consisting of two or more orb veils with the same shape. In this case we seem to have a stack of two identically shaped orb veils.