About Night Shot X-Rays

Misconceptions

• Night shot X-rays do not use X-rays to function and work on an entirely different concept. The only similarity between the two different forms of media is the fact that both methods allow the user to see something that would ordinarily be hidden from sight and that both methods also allow the user to view something that is obscured by another object.
  
  

The Facts

• Night shot X-rays are created by using standard camcorders or cameras that have a "night shot" function built into them. The night shot function is meant to allow for the capturing of photographs or video footage in extreme low-light situations. The technology used to make night shot modes possible is essentially the same as that which is employed in night-vision goggles. To create a true "X-ray" usability, most cameras need to be outfitted with a special lens.
  
  

Benefits

• When a night shot X-ray is taken properly, it can allow a photograph to show beneath the surface of something; for instance, the intricate networking of blood vessels within a bat's wings. Ordinarily those blood vessels would be obscured behind the skin of the bat. The night shot X-ray allows those vessels to be displayed anyway.
  
  

Risk Factors

• The major drawback to night shot X-rays is that they can be used for immoral and illegal purposes. Under certain settings, a night shot X-ray can allow people to covertly capture nude images of someone who is fully clothed. Such practices have been made illegal in many areas of the world. Night shot X-rays through clothing need to be taken during periods with a lot of sunshine and work best through tight, black clothing. In order to avoid being victimized people can wear light, baggier clothing and always wear undergarments.
  
  

Expert Insight

• Night shot X-rays work by taking advantage of the way that light works. Visible light is only a very small percentage of the electromagnetic radiation that surrounds us all of the time. Night shot X-rays take advantage of the fact that while visible light is absorbed by dark substances, infrared rays pass through those substances. The infrared rays then bounce off of materials behind the dark substance and are captured by the camera, while the visible light is not. This is the basic method by which night shot X-rays work.