Kirlian Photography is a rare contact printing technique using high voltage to obtain images on photographic paper or film, capturing the phenomenon of electrical coronal discharges.It is named after Semyon Kirlian, who in 1939 accidentally discovered that if an object on a photographic plate is subjected to a strong electric field, an image is created on the plate.

Kirlian made controversial claims that his method referred to supernatural auras-Kirlian promoted the idea that the resulting images of living objects were a physical proof of the life force or aura which allegedly surrounds all living beings. This claim was said to be supported by experiments by the Kirlians that involved cutting part of a leaf off - the Kirlian images of such leaves, it was said, still showed the leaves as whole, as though the cutting had never happened.