Kirlian photography

Kirlian photography, or electromagnetic discharge imaging (EDI), technique of recording an image on photographic film by applying a high-frequency electric field to it and recording the resulting pattern of luminescence. The electromagnetic field causes electrons and positive ions in the gas surrounding an object to accelerate and frees them from the object's surface. When the electrons and ions recombine, the objects photographed appear surrounded by light. The process is named after Soviet scientists Semyon and Valentina Kirlian, who systematized it c.1940.

See also: Photography.