How can you tell if a ghost photograph is real & not the clever use of Adobe Photoshop or similar software?

These days most people who use computers have access to a photo-editing programme so it is going to be increasingly easy to create a "ghost" photograph using layers and feathering and the transparency tool.

The best way is to have it checked out be experts in the field of photography and photo manipulation. There is no way anyone can be an expert in every field so the best way is have a series of contacts you can call upon.

It just so happens that I am surrounded by graphic designers as my wife is one and many of our friends. It is amazing what can be achieved with photoshop, though I just tend to chop heads off celebrities and move them onto funnier bodies for a laugh.

I have some problems with ghost photographs.

1) I am not convinced yet that ghosts are an external phenomena, meaning they could internal, like an induced hallucination, therefore how can they be on film.

2) I know there are differant types of ghosts but each photo or piece of film looks differant to me.

3) There are more cameras about now than ever before. More CCTV cameras, mobile phones with cameras etc, but the best images we have ever had were taken years ago when cameras were far fewer. Why don't we get a lot more and better footage.

4) The first case I ever investigated was a ghost on film. The owners lied to my face that it was real and I couldn't disprove it. I discovered later it was faked later from one of their employees.

5) A lot of the ghost on film cases turn out to be inconclusive.

6) I have sen a ghost and had it walk through me. I have not seen anything like what I saw on film yet.

I realise I am biased through my experiences, but I find ghost photographs a minefield.

How easy is it to fake a good ghost photograph? Anyone fancy giving it a go and posting it up?

i havnt tried to fake a piccy before,but i did try and recreate orbs on film to show they can be "natural" and not allways paranormal.

However i was sent a picture by a neighbour,who wanted me to take a peek at a picture that was taken by her sons friend on a mobile phone,apparantly after having the picture in question had been on their phone for some time,a friend noticed something unusual,on observation they decided to upload the pic to a pc,when doing so,they found that between the legs of two of the friend appreared a spooky image.

when i received the pic,i wasnt sure if it cld be the result of double exposure,as im not too clued up if a mobile cam can have the same results as a normal cam film,but i did say the ghostly girl image appeared to resemble the little girl on th right hand side of the picture (who was supposed to be there,lol)...Anyhow i sent it on to a friend to see what he though,he specialises in this sort of thing,and said he wld look into it further,but it couldnt be double exposure (if it had been from a mobile)..

Anyway i was telling a friend about it,and she announced this picture has been going round the net,and is said to be fake,with varying stories behind it....as i say its not my piccy,but here it is for all to see.....

The first way to see if a image is real is to compare the amount of image noise in a digital image between the 'ghost' and a random spot in the picture. Using PS and other digital shinannigans tends to alter that. Also compare the pixels along the edge of the 'ghost'.
Do they seem blurry? Are they jaggy? Or do they seemlessly blend with the image?

This won't prevent you from ouside the camera trickery, but does tend to uncover outright forgeries by amatures. Notice, it may be neigh impossible to spot a photo taken by someone who really knows thier stuff, however.

The easiest test is 'is it too good to be true?'! Fakers have a tendency to overdo it and make their creations so good that they can only really be fakes or the real thing. If you see such a photo, try some of the tests here http://www.assap.org/newsite/htmlfiles/Manipulation.html