Kirlian photography is a set of methods used to take pictures of electrical sparks or energy around objects. It is named after Semyon Kirlian, a Soviet scientist of Armenian heritage, who in 1939 found by accident that when an object on a photographic plate is connected to a high-voltage source, a picture appears on the plate. This technique has been called by many names, including electrography, electrophotography, corona(l) discharge photography (CDP), bioelectrography, gas discharge visualization (GDV), electrophotonic imaging (EPI), and in Russian texts, Kirlianography.
Kirlian photography has been studied by scientists, researchers in parapsychology, and artists. Some people have made claims about its paranormal abilities, but these are not accepted by the scientific community. It has also been used in research related to alternative medicine.
History
In 1889, a Czech man named Bartoloměj Navrátil created the word "electrography." In 1896, a French scientist named Hippolyte Baraduc made electrographs of hands and leaves.
In 1898, a Polish-Belarusian engineer named Jakub Jodko-Narkiewicz showed electrography at the fifth exhibition of the Russian Technical Society.
In 1939, two Czechs, S. Pratt and J. Schlemmer, took pictures that showed a glow around leaves. That same year, a Soviet electrical engineer named Semyon Kirlian and his wife Valentina developed Kirlian photography. They noticed this after seeing a patient at Krasnodar Hospital being treated with a high-frequency electrical generator. They observed that when the generator's electrodes were near the patient’s skin, a glow similar to a neon light appeared.
The Kirlians tested their method by placing photographic film on a conducting plate and attaching another conductor to a hand, leaf, or plant. They used a power source that produced high frequency and high voltage. This created images that showed the object’s shape with a glowing light around it.
In 1958, the Kirlians shared their first results. Their work was not widely known until 1970, when two Americans, Lynn Schroeder and Sheila Ostrander, wrote a book titled Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain. This made high-voltage electrophotography known to the public as Kirlian photography. Western scientists showed little interest, but Russians held a conference on the topic in 1972 at Kazakh State University.
Kirlian photography was used in the former Eastern Bloc during the 1970s. In Russia and Eastern Europe, the glow from a high-voltage electrical field on an object’s surface was called a "Kirlian aura." In 1975, a Soviet scientist named Victor Adamenko wrote a dissertation titled Research of the Structure of High-Frequency Electric Discharge (Kirlian Effect) Images. Studies of what researchers called the "Kirlian effect" were led by Victor Inyushin at Kazakh State University.
In the early 1970s, Thelma Moss and Kendall Johnson at the Center for Health Sciences at UCLA studied Kirlian photography extensively. Moss led a parapsychology laboratory that was not supported by the university and was closed in 1979.
Overview
Kirlian photography is a method for making contact print photographs using high voltage. The process involves placing sheet photographic film on top of a metal discharge plate. The object to be photographed is then placed directly on top of the film. High voltage current is briefly applied to the object, creating an exposure. The corona discharge between the object and the plate, caused by high voltage, is captured by the film. The developed film produces a Kirlian photograph of the object.
Color photographic film is set up to show accurate colors when exposed to normal light. Corona discharges can affect tiny differences in the layers of dye used in the film, leading to a range of colors based on the strength of the discharge. Film and digital imaging methods also record light from photons released during corona discharge (see Mechanism of corona discharge).
Photographs of non-living objects, such as coins, keys, and leaves, can be made more clearly by connecting the object to the earth, a cold water pipe, or the opposite side of the high-voltage source. Connecting the object strengthens the corona discharge.
Kirlian photography does not need a camera or lens because it is a contact print process. A transparent electrode can be used instead of the high-voltage discharge plate to capture the corona discharge with a standard photo or video camera.
Visual artists such as Robert Buelteman, Ted Hiebert, and Dick Lane have used Kirlian photography to create artistic images of various subjects.
Research
Kirlian photography has been studied by scientists, researchers in parapsychology, and those who make claims not based on real science.
In 1976, experiments using Kirlian photography on living tissue, such as human fingertips, showed that most changes in the electric sparks seen in the images were caused by the amount of moisture on the surface and inside the living tissue.
Konstantin Korotkov created a method similar to Kirlian photography called "gas discharge visualization" (GDV). His GDV camera system uses hardware and software to record, process, and analyze GDV images with a computer. Korotkov promotes the use of this device in medical research. In Poland, Izabela Ciesielska used Korotkov's GDV camera to study how different types of fabric affect human biology, such as heart rate and blood pressure, as well as the electric sparks in images. Subjects wore sleeves made of various materials while their fingertips were photographed. The results did not show a clear connection between the fabric and the electric images, and the findings were not considered reliable.
In 1968, Thelma Moss, a psychology professor, led the Neuropsychiatric Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which later became the Semel Institute. The institute had a lab for parapsychology research, but it was not funded or officially supported and was eventually closed. Toward the end of her time at UCLA, Moss became interested in Kirlian photography, a technique that some claimed could show the "auras" of living beings. A former assistant, Kerry Gaynor, said many people believed the effects of Kirlian photography were natural and not special.
Scientists have not found evidence to support paranormal claims about Kirlian photography. Gordon Stein, a physiologist, said Kirlian photography is a trick that has "nothing to do with health, vitality, or mood" of the person being photographed.
Kirlian believed the images might show a supposed energy field, or "aura," thought by some to surround living things. He and his wife believed these images could reflect the physical and emotional states of their subjects and might help diagnose illnesses. In 1961, they published their first article about this in the Russian Journal of Scientific and Applied Photography. Their ideas were later used by practitioners of energy-based treatments.
A common demonstration used to support the idea of energy fields involved taking Kirlian photographs of a leaf over time. As the leaf dried, the electric sparks in the images were thought to weaken. In some cases, if part of a leaf was removed after the first photo, a faint image of the missing part sometimes appeared in the second photo. However, if the surface was cleaned before taking the second photo, no image of the missing part appeared.
The theory that living things have an "aura" is partly disproven because the moisture in leaves strongly affects the electric sparks. More moisture creates larger sparks, and as a leaf loses water, the sparks naturally become smaller and less intense. Kirlian's experiments did not prove the existence of an energy field other than the electric fields caused by chemical reactions and the movement of electric sparks.
The electric sparks seen in Kirlian images are the result of random electric processes and are influenced by many factors, such as the voltage and frequency of the electricity used, how hard a person or object touches the imaging surface, the humidity around the object, how well the object is grounded, and other factors that affect how well the object conducts electricity. Oils, sweat, bacteria, and other substances on living tissues can also change the images.
Scientists like Beverly Rubik have studied the idea of a human "biofield" using Kirlian photography to explain the Chinese practice of Qigong, which teaches that a vital energy called "qi" exists in all living things. Rubik used Korotkov's GDV device to create images thought to show these energy fields in people with long-term illnesses. However, she admitted her experiments had too few participants to draw reliable conclusions. Skeptics argue that claims about capturing energy with special cameras are not supported by scientific evidence.
In popular culture
Kirlian photography has been included in many books, movies, TV shows, and other media. For example, the 1975 film The Kirlian Force was later given a more exciting title, Psychic Killer. Kirlian photographs have also been used in media, such as the cover of George Harrison's 1973 album Living in the Material World. The front cover shows Kirlian photos of his hand holding a Hindu medallion, and the back cover shows Kirlian photos of American coins. These photos were taken at Thelma Moss's UCLA parapsychology laboratory.
The 1989 film Ghostbusters II mentions "multiplanar Kirlian emanations" during a scene where characters analyze photos of a painting possessed by a spirit.
David Bowie's 1997 album Earthling includes reproductions of Kirlian photographs he took in 1975 while living in Los Angeles. The photos show a crucifix he wore and the imprint of his "forefinger" tip. The photos were taken before and 30 minutes after he used cocaine. The photo taken after cocaine use shows a noticeable increase in the "aura" around the crucifix and forefinger.
In the Cluster novels by Piers Anthony, the idea of the Kirlian Aura is used to describe how a person's personality can be transferred into another body, even an alien body, across long distances. In the 1977 book The Anarchistic Colossus by A. E. van Vogt, a society controlled by "Kirlian computers" is described.
The first seven seasons of The X-Files television series begin with a Kirlian image of a human left hand. The image appears as the 11th clip in the opening sequence and shows a bluish coronal discharge as the main outline, with only the base part of the index finger shown in red. A white human silhouette appears to fall toward the hand.
The Italian electronic band Kirlian Camera was named after the device used for Kirlian photography. The British industrial band Cabaret Voltaire's first album, Mix-Up, includes a song titled Kirlian Photograph.