Why can't you take a picture of a person when he sleeps. Why you can't take pictures of sleeping people. How to separate the wheat from the chaff

When a person is resting, and especially if it is a child, he sometimes looks very nice. However, there are many pictures in family photo albums with crouched babies or relatives. Despite the fact that the 21st century is in the yard, people are still afraid to take this kind of shots. To understand whether there is a reasonable grain in this, or whether prejudice is to blame, you can turn to the opinion of scientists.

Grandparents repeat with confidence - it is forbidden to photograph sleeping children. Surprisingly, the older generations themselves find it difficult to answer the question about the reason for such a taboo. Although there is a perfectly rational explanation for this. And in order to understand, it is worth going back a couple of centuries.

Photos of the dead

At a time when electronic printing, and photography in general, was the limit of fantasy, people painted portraits. Later, with the invention of the camera by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, people got the technical ability to capture themselves and loved ones in pictures. However, the financial side of the issue did not allow contacting the photographer from time to time. Therefore, they resorted to shooting in exceptional cases.

Energy field experts also advise against photographing people who are dreaming. If we ask ourselves to study the aura and enter the astral plane, then it is unlikely that we will be able to give a short answer why non-scientific communities repeat the idea of medieval beliefs. In simple terms, in a dream, the soul leaves the body, so the protective shell is weakened. It is believed that a picture of an unprotected person can be used for evil purposes - to bring damage or the evil eye.

Interesting!

Another judgment of esotericists is connected with the ability of the soul to go into the astral plane when the body is resting. The followers of this theory argue that if you accidentally wake up a sleeping camera shutter or flash, then the soul may not have time to return and some entity from a parallel world will take its place.

religious teachings

Surprisingly, almost all denominations agree that when a person is resting, one cannot touch him, let alone photograph him. In Christianity, it is believed that the flash scares away the guardian angel. Islam is generally wary of photography. According to Sharia law, the image of a person in photographs or paintings is considered to be likeness to God.

On the issue of the ban on photographing children and adults during sleep, the judgments of doctors are in tune with beliefs. Doctors are sure that a sudden awakening has a bad effect on a person's well-being. And, if we are talking about a small child, then we should not miss the moment that in babies up to a year old, the process of building a nervous system is just going on. It is not uncommon for children to suffer from stuttering if they are greatly frightened.

Sleep disturbance

During rest, the body not only rests, but also produces the hormone melatonin, which is necessary for the regulation of circadian rhythms. By the way, it is because of this that it is recommended to sleep only in a dark room without any light sources. A sudden outbreak can disrupt sleep. As a result, in humans, the process of synthesizing the hormone can go astray, and, as a result, insomnia and confusion in circadian rhythms will begin.

A question of morality

Just yesterday, when my daughter was sleeping, I wanted to take a picture of her, but my husband did not allow me - he said that there was a bad omen in this regard, and I didn’t even know why it was impossible to photograph sleeping people, and especially babies. I'll tell you about what I found out myself - what if someone, like me, is in the dark?

Previously, there was no such problem, cameras were not very accessible to ordinary people, and shooting was a whole event. Then, when compact cameras appeared, the process became easier, but still, many people did not shoot literally everything they wanted on film - such pictures would hardly decorate a photo album, and they had no other use.

Of course, fashion photographers photographed sleeping people, and there was a bit of art in this, but it did not wear, so to speak, mass distribution. And then, when digital compact cameras came into widespread use, and every mobile phone became equipped with a device for shooting, it became much easier to shoot. And of course, many began to shoot their loved ones in various situations - cute poses, funny outfits, various funny incidents, and of course a dream. However, not everyone knows whether it is possible to photograph sleeping people?

Actually, to be honest, today I spent the whole day on the Internet, asking girlfriends and girls on the forum about whether they know about the reasons why people should not be photographed if they fell asleep. I heard a lot of interesting opinions, among which the leaders are:

signs;
unpleasant associations;
real harm to a person;
religious prohibitions.

I will tell you about all the reasons in order and whether it is possible to photograph a sleeping person.

Causes

Naturally, everyone has their own answers to the question of why it is impossible to photograph sleeping children and adults, but with regard to children, I heard one interesting theory.

As you know, we sleep quite sensitively and unevenly, a person wakes up up to two hundred times a night. Naturally, he does not come out of the full state of sleep, the awakening is very short, for a moment.

But if at this moment you scare a person, then the dream will be of poor quality, and it’s quite easy to scare during the shooting process - a couple of flashes are enough.

In adults, this is unlikely to cause anything serious, except for mild anxiety, but with children you need to be careful - a fright in a child can lead to disruption of sleep, speech and development. Naturally, not a single frame is worth the peace of mind of a child.

Signs are a powerful rationale for why it is better to refrain from photographing sleeping people. So, if you believe the signs, then photographing a sleeping person you can:

invite death to him (fix his motionless inactive state);
frighten off his guardian angel;
take away his health and happiness;
capture his soul (as a result of which a person will lose it and may go crazy).

They say that an energetically sleeping person is not much different from a dead one, and when we remove it, we seem to capture this state, which harms a person.

There is another reason that seems more realistic to me. Probably every adult knows that there was a tradition of taking post-mortem photographs - people took pictures of dead babies in their arms, and took pictures at the funeral. A sleeping person is little different from the deceased, so many are afraid to take such pictures.

An interesting theory about the journey of the soul. Generally speaking, our soul travels to other worlds during sleep, and when the body begins to wake up, it returns back. So, on a flash or a shutter click, a person can wake up abruptly, and the soul does not have time to wake up - then the body can die.

The religious reasons for the ban on photography are very interesting. In many world religions, including Islam, they are very wary of photography. This is due to a religious prohibition - for example, very often only a deity can be depicted, and any image of a person can be equated with an attempt to become like a divine essence.

If you have a sleeping person in front of you, and you are not sure that he is loyal to shooting, then it is better not to photograph him in a dream. Also, some religions attach too much importance to photography - for example, in Asian beliefs, there is a belief that a photograph is an imprint of the soul, which then turns into a demon.

Fear and nervous breakdown are a frequent companion of photography in a dream, no matter how sad it is to admit it. A person in a dream feels defenseless, and if he is abruptly pulled out of this state, he may experience psychological trauma, he will be afraid to sleep, and it is quite difficult to overcome this. And physically fright is almost always associated with a violation of breathing and heart rate, so fright can lead to heart disease, or even a heart attack.

So what to do - take pictures or not

I think you understand why it is impossible to photograph sleeping people, but how much is it worth following such signs? Everyone decides for himself. And if even doctors do not advise photographing a sleeping child - a flash can really scare a baby, then there is no such unequivocal opinion with an adult.

If you want to take a picture of a sleeping person with a phone or a regular camera, then try to do the following:

turn off the flash on your phone or camera - after all, you are taking a picture not for official documents, but for home use, it may well be fuzzy;
turn off the sound and check in another room that the shutter sound does not work;
do not lean over the sleeping person and do not bring the phone or camera too close;
no need to try to shift the sleeping person into any funny position.

I decided for myself that it is impossible to photograph a sleeping person if you did not agree with him that this is acceptable. Of course, for me personally, we are not talking about whether it is possible to photograph a dozing girl on the subway - I think that this is an interference with a person’s private life, and even more so, you should not shoot a video.

It is also important for me that the person I photograph (for example, earlier it was my boyfriend, and now my husband) likes himself in the picture. He believes that when he sleeps he is not very handsome, and I do not consider myself entitled to argue with him (although, in my opinion, men in a dream are very touching, much nicer than newborns).

If the person you photograph is unhappy, offer to delete the photo - put yourself in his place for only a brief moment, few people like to photograph people when they are sleeping, but even less do we want to be in the place of the hero of the picture.

Draw conclusions for yourself, and if you are already filming sleeping people, then do it as harmlessly as possible for them - without a flash and the risk of scaring them.

Many people have known since childhood that photographing sleeping people is strictly prohibited. Where did such a superstition come from, and, in fact, why it is impossible to photograph sleeping people, I will tell right now.

The ban on photographing sleeping: a banal superstition or a real threat

Each person has their own view on different things. Someone, for example, is afraid to photograph sleeping people, fearing that this will affect their lives, while someone considers such signs to be just a fiction that came to us from the distant past.

It can only be unequivocally stated that until our time not a single accident has been recognized as such that it happened due to the fault of a photograph taken in the past.

The truth is that any development in the field of science or technology contributes to the emergence of new devices, which immediately fall into a certain category of superstition.

Is the ban on photographing sleeping people a superstition? In many ways, yes.

Since there is no scientific explanation for this prohibition, you will not find information in any school textbook that it is impossible to photograph sleeping people.

However, such a sign appeared almost immediately after the appearance of the first camera, which means that it has its own reasons for existence.

Another question - to believe in it or not? This is solely your decision.

Often people who are inclined take such a warning seriously, materialists, of course, ignore such a rule.

If you look at the issue from the point of view of statistics, here the opinions of citizens were divided almost equally.

Approximately 60% of the citizens surveyed are not inclined to believe in mysticism, otherworldly phenomena and omens. The other 40% believe in horoscopes, divination and superstition.

It is impossible to say who is right in this case and who is wrong, since any point of view has the right to exist. And if many people believe that it is impossible to photograph sleeping people, then there are reasons for this.

Where did the ban on photographing sleeping people come from: 3 main options

Few people know how the opinion appeared that photographing people who fell asleep is a bad omen.

And it’s quite difficult to figure out where exactly the superstition came from, because there are several versions of its origin.

There are 3 main factors in the appearance of superstition about the ban on photography in a dream:

Historical.

Many years ago, around the 19th century, when the camera became available to wealthy miles of the population, a tradition strange for modern times appeared - to photograph the dead. Why take pictures not in the form of a dead person, but as a still living member of the family, however, in a "sleeping" form - with eyes closed.

After some time, this tradition ceased to exist, but the imprint of it remained. Since then, the sleeping person in the photo has been associated with the dead.

Mystical.

There are a large number of people who claim that among ordinary citizens there are people with superpowers - sorcerers, psychics and many others. It is believed that they can affect a person's aura, take away his energy and destroy the biofield.

The sleeping person in the photograph in this case is an ideal victim who is not able to protect himself from the eyes of such people.

Religious.

Since religions also contain stories about the other world and spirits, from the point of view of spirituality, a photograph of a sleeping person can harm him.

For example, Christians argue that photographs of a sleeping person can frighten off a guardian angel, and according to Sharia law, it is impossible to photograph and thereby recreate a portrait of a sleeping person, because this is a sin.

Note: the first two versions of the origin of superstition have in their subtext every reason to prohibit photographing sleeping people. Religion has no strict restrictions in this respect.
Sharia law does forbid recreating people's faces, but this is not just about photography. It's just that these laws prohibit the creation of a portrait, and therefore a photograph that looks like a painted portrait.
As for Christianity, the ministers of the church themselves do not agree with the opinion that the guardian angel can leave a person. But, on the other hand, they argue that it is impossible to photograph and show newborn babies who are not yet 40 days old, because only during this period the newborn will be christened and then he will have a guardian angel.
Before baptism, the baby is considered defenseless, and if you take a picture of him and show it to other people, they can steal his energy.

Why you shouldn't photograph sleeping people: 6 reasons and 6 possible consequences

There are many reasons why it is forbidden to photograph sleeping people. Each of them has its own explanation and list of possible consequences.

Cause	Description and consequences
A sleeping person resembles a photograph of the deceased	It is believed that a person who looks like a dead person in the photo is projecting an unhappy fate on himself. This man seemed to be dead to the real world. It is fraught with serious illnesses and even a fatal disease.
Violation of the human energy field	Each person, according to esotericists, has his own biofield or aura. When he is photographed in a dream, it is customary to believe that his aura also enters the frame, which is why the biofield is disturbed. A person becomes energetically weak and unassembled. This can lead to nervous breakdowns, illness, or a "zombie" state.
Inducing damage, evil eye	Since in a dream a person cannot keep his energy field stable, in a photograph in a dream he turns out to be disarmed. If such a photo gets to an unscrupulous person or a sorcerer, he can easily bring the evil eye or damage, which in turn will lead to terrible consequences.
Loss of connection with the soul	Our ancestors have long believed that. At the moment of sleep, the soul leaves the body and goes to wander in another dimension. When a person wakes up, his soul returns. But if you photograph him in a dream, and from this he suddenly wakes up, the person’s soul may not have time to return. The outcome is that a person will either get sick or go crazy.
Loss of a guardian angel	Despite the fact that the clergy do not share the opinion that an angel can leave a person, such a version exists. And if this happens, a person can become unfortunate and weak.
Violation of religious canons	I repeat that Islam categorically forbids photographing people in a dream; for Muslims, photographing in a dream is a sin.

Despite the fact that there are a large number of reasons, none of them has been tested by reality. Perhaps such a ban is really dangerous for humans, but so far humanity has not been able to verify this.

Trust superstition or not - your decision. The power of human thought has a great influence on the future, therefore, in order not to harm yourself, think about what you really want and do not project negative conjectures on yourself.

Modern views on why it is impossible to photograph sleeping people

In the modern world, people most often refuse signs and superstitions. Firstly, this is no longer relevant in many respects, and secondly, the current pace of life does not allow thinking about the many existing signs.

But the question of why it is impossible to photograph sleeping people is very interesting, therefore, experts have been working on finding out all the circumstances of such a sign for more than a year: psychologists, researchers, doctors.

And all of them, of course, are not inclined to believe that a photo of a person in a dream will contribute to the loss of his soul, but it is interesting that most of them also do not recommend taking such photos.

Why? There are several explanations:

A person who is sleeping cannot give permission for a photo shoot. It turns out that with such a picture you can violate personal boundaries and simply piss off a person.
A sleeping person does not necessarily turn out well in the photo, this can make him upset or offended, and the photographer in this case will seem to him a tactless person.
The click or flash of a camera can frighten a person in their sleep, and this will lead to stress, sleep disturbance and a state of distraction from the fact that his sleep was interrupted in the slow phase.

Such beliefs apply not only to adults, but also to children, because they are much more sensitive to flashes of light and sharp sounds.

The child may be frightened, and then stutter. From this, pediatricians advise not to disturb babies with constant outbreaks.

Learn more about the reasons for the ban and the consequences of photographing people in a dream from the video:

What to do if you have already been photographed: step by step instructions

It often happens that a person becomes interested in the consequences of photographing in a dream after the picture has been taken.

I note right away that this situation does not mean that a series of failures will begin in your life. You must proceed as follows.

Steps	Description
Step 1.	Don't panic and don't get upset. You can believe the signs, or you can not pay attention to them. Most importantly, don't project negativity onto yourself.
Step 2	If the photo of you sleeping turned out cute or cute, leave it as a keepsake in the family album. If you don't like it or annoy you, get rid of it. Fortunately, modern smartphones allow you to do this in a matter of seconds.
Step 3	Do not show photos to strangers in order to protect yourself and your nervous system from prejudice. And in the future, ask people close to you, family or friends not to take such pictures.

It turns out that, subject to the rules of etiquette, no one can forbid photographing people sleeping. The consequences of such actions have not been proven, which means that if a person has given you consent to filming, then there is nothing to worry about.

Just make sure that you do not disturb the person in their sleep with your photograph - turn off the sound of the camera and the flash.

If you still believe that photographs in a dream are a bad sign, do not take them, or at least do not show them to unfamiliar people whose intentions you are not at all sure.

Is believing in omens good or bad?

Every person is free to choose what to believe. You can believe in superstitions, or you can close your eyes to them. Nobody will judge you for this.

But, like any other situation, believing in omens has its pros and cons.

Advantages	disadvantages
Trusting signs, a person becomes attentive to trifles. He once again reinsures himself and does not take risks. From this, he himself makes his own life safer.	A person who believes in omens becomes a little obsessed. He can easily deny himself the joy if a black cat accidentally crosses his path. This makes his life "poorer".
Signs, by the way, are not only bad. Many of them suggest something good. Thinking often about good things, a person himself attracts him into his life.	People fixated on superstitions cannot live fully and are highly influenced. Such a person can be easily deceived or offended.

Believing in all signs is not a good idea, although if they promise something positive, you can safely let them into your own life.

I will give a simple example

A person who certainly believes that good things will happen to him is rarely convinced of this. The whole point here is not magic or mystical things, but the power of human thought.

If you blindly believe that having a picture in a dream will bring you trouble, then most likely it will happen. After all, you yourself are programming yourself for the bad. And even if nothing bad happens, you will find it and blame one single shot for everything.

Because of this, I advise you not to dwell on the bad, but to live a fulfilling life.

If you were interested in the question of why it is impossible to photograph sleeping people, now you have received an extensive answer to it. Then it's up to you to decide how to relate to such superstitions.

Useful article? Don't miss out on new ones!
Enter your e-mail and receive new articles by mail

All sleeping people, children, adults look so cute, charming and defenseless. Involuntarily, a hand reaches for a camera or a camera in a mobile phone to capture a beloved and dear person at such a moment. And why can't you take pictures of sleeping people, children or a child?

There is an unspoken rule that you can not photograph those who are sleeping. Moreover, if you dig deep and seriously, then there are many reasons that explain this taboo, for example (short answer):

a ban on photographing sleeping people for religious reasons;
a flash can interfere with sleep;
taboo in the photo associated with mysticism (damage, energy theft);
psychological (a fright of a person, an ugly photo, associations with photographs of dead people);
ethical (taking photographs without consent).

Let's try to consider in more detail the reasons indicated in the list.

Religious reasons

First of all, they relate to Islam. According to Muslim teachings, there is a ban on the reproduction of any images of humans and animals. The prohibited list includes the creation of features of a person's appearance, including sculptures and man-made images, including:

drawings;
works of arts and crafts;
Photo.

The creation by a person of any images, representatives of the Muslim faith say, can lead to polytheism, to the worship of other gods, except Allah. If we continue these arguments, then photographing a sleeping person is the creation of a portrait of a person.

Priests, representatives of Christian teachings are also against photographing someone who sleeps sweetly. But they have other explanations - they believe that this is how you can frighten an angel who protects a person (even when he is in a state of sleep). From fright, an angel can disappear, leave a person without protection.

mystical explanations

There are several different explanations for why it is undesirable to shoot a sleeping person on film or digital. All of them are associated with such concepts as "aura", "energy field", "soul". Everyone decides for himself whether there is some truth in these statements.

Photographing - to the disease

One of the mystical versions explains the ban on filming by the following reasons. The energy field of a sleeping living person and a dead person are identical. By photographing someone who is in a dream, you can consolidate this state, affirm it in reality. The consequences can be dire - from serious illness to death.

Soul and body

The second mystical explanation is based on the idea that during sleep the human soul travels through different dimensions. It returns to the physical body only at the moment of awakening. A click of a camera shutter or a bright flash leads to the fact that a person wakes up too suddenly, when the soul does not have time to return, which again leads to a tragic ending.

There is no answer to the question, if the shooting is done with a mobile phone camera, without a loud click and flash, can this lead to terrible consequences.

How not to jinx it!

Many bioenergy therapists are sure that any picture reflects the energy field. When a person is in a state of sleep, he is weaker and more vulnerable. Therefore, with the help of a photograph of a person not awake, but resting, black sorcerers or magicians can cause damage sooner.

As for the kids, they are not only not allowed to be photographed. Knowledgeable people say that it’s better not to even admire for a long time (as many mothers like to do) on their beloved child. For the same reason, up to forty days, the child is not shown to adults, so as not to jinx it, but they specially convene small children and show them a newborn.

Thinking logically...

There are a number of quite logical explanations why photographing a sleeping person is wrong, ugly, and what negative consequences it can lead to.

Don't scare!

The very first and simplest is fear, in fact, a sleeping person becomes defenseless in a certain sense, he does not adequately assess the situation even in a state of awakening. Therefore, any sudden sound, such as a shutter click or a lens popping out, or the harsh, blinding light of a flash, may frighten a person.

The consequences can be the most unpredictable and severe, especially for fear in children. In the future, there will be problems with laying down, nightmares, nervous excitability, tears, tantrums, stuttering are possible.

Full sleep

The second explanation is physiological, based on the assertion of doctors that a person needs complete darkness when he is resting. This is the only way the body synthesizes melatonin, an important chemical that is responsible for regulating circadian rhythms.

Bright flashes can have a negative effect on the state of rest, interfere with the restoration of strength. Therefore, after waking up, a person will still feel overwhelmed.

Beauty is power!

The next reason is quite real - it seems to the photographer that his loved one in a dream looks funny, touching, and this moment is worthy of capturing him for centuries. But cute does not mean beautiful, the subject. In general, you may not like the result.

A rare person looks handsome at rest, because the muscles at this time are relaxed, facial expressions and postures are funny. Therefore, if the photo session has already taken place, then the person who was photographed should have the right to choose whether to leave the photos for the family album or immediately delete them from all media.

Sleep is a little death

Many have noticed that when a person is at rest, he looks like a dead person. In the 19th century, the practice of fixing a person “post mortem” became widespread in Europe, that is, there are a fairly large number of photographs that depict already deceased people next to living relatives, moreover, in natural, relaxed poses - at a table, with a book or a toy.

Modern photographs of sleeping people, to a certain extent, resemble the same action or can evoke close associations. By the way, this practice was common in Western Europe, in Eastern Europe they carried out photographic recording of real funerals. Such rather creepy pictures are still stored in old dusty albums today.

The bad habit of photographing sleeping people, which can be associatively associated with the post-mortem photo shoot, common in previous centuries, is additionally associated with mysticism. Superstitious people who remember pictures from the ceremonial procession well. At that time, not only traditions, rites, acquaintances and relatives, seeing off the deceased on their last journey, were recorded.

The focus of the photographer was the deceased himself, who was photographed, of course, with his eyes closed, in a coffin, but from different angles. Mystically inclined people are afraid of the associations of a sleeping person with the deceased, they believe that it is possible to attract, attract negativity to a living person.

Category of ethics

The simplest and most realistic reason is the ethical moment. There is a famous saying that your rights end where the rights of another person begin. It is clear that the photographer and the subject in this case are a priori in a different position. The sleeper cannot adequately assess the situation, control himself, influence the course of events, he is absolutely defenseless in front of the outside world and the photographer who is shooting him.

It is the latter, in this case, who is responsible and making an important decision - whether to capture the memory of a loved one sleeping next to him or try to keep this image in his memory. And for a photo shoot “for memory” choose a different time, different interiors and, most importantly, give the subject of photography the right to become a full-fledged participant in the filming process!