cthahn

Most photographers do not even know what true macro photography is or the skill needed to take macro photographs.

GSQRD1 Loc: SAN ANTONIO, TX

As a Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM) having a specialty of forensic meteorology, this subject of forensic photography is intriguing to me. One naive question that comes to my mind is: can (and how) forensic photography be certified for inclusion in court records and to be used by an expert witness? If yes, is their some agency that provides that certification to the courts, or is the testimony of the forensics expert (photographer) witness and a chain of custody accepted under oath on the stand?

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

In the UK, I had to sign the back of each print to testify that it had not been 'Doctored/ enhanced' That was film days . Never done digital for legal work. Did some UV (Black-Light) and IR work to uncover fraud entries in a competition. That was interesting getting the result, to catch a cheat.

dickparkans Loc: Arizona

There's a member whose avatar is a chalk outline of a body, and he has "I see dead people" somewhere in his box. If you can track him down, he'd probably be able to provide some information.



That's me. What can I do for you?

dickparkans Loc: Arizona

I work for the AZ Highway Patrol, AKA AZ Department of Public Safety. I have been doing this for 20+ years and I do NOT know everything but I will be glad to help anybody that want the help. We in AZ have a unique situation. There is no tracking of the digital images. There are only 2 civilians in the Photo Lab. We cannot go all over the state all of the time. Most pictures are taken by the officers with P&S cameras, in jpg format, put on a CD and sent to us for storage. No, we don't have an archive system other than storing the CDs in the envelope that they came to us in. When an officer goes to court, they are usually asked, "Is this a true and accurate representation of what you saw?" I have only been to court about 4 times in 20+ years. (not good, just lucky!!!)

CSI Dave Loc: Arizona

Hi Dick! Greetings from across the street. For everyone else reading this, Dick is being modest, he knows a ton about this topic and he is a true professional. We have slightly different guidelines working in the lab as opposed to field work. For example, Latent Prints converts their files to TIFF and stores them in a database that has strict tracking of any changes. Our footwear images can be enhanced (contrast, brightness, saturation, etc.) in Photoshop to pull out tread detail. After that, it can be saved as a JPEG and printed out. Photomicrographs are taken with specialized cameras on the microscope using various imaging software. Most of the time it's the printed image that goes to court.

conniep

my photography instructor was a forensic photographer, all i can add to this conversation is that he could not use a digital camera (falacy from all those law shows) good luck....

Arca

Years ago, I performed child custody evaluations for the Superior Court in Arizona. I found it helpful in making home visits to document the home environment, inside and out. I recall taking a photograph of the inside of the refrigerator of a young mother who wanted to have custody of her two year old son, and the only item in the fridge was a six-pack of Bud Light. That was a very telling photo.

I used one of the first film cameras that I knew of at the time, an Olympus 330 (I believe that is the model number if my memory serves me correctly) which had the ability to print the date of the photograph in the lower right corner. I feel that this was important for the legal field and was at that time, a fairly new development.

Arca

Rongnongno Loc: FL

What type of equipment do you use? Is there specific requirement?

dickparkans Loc: Arizona

Nikon D7000, Nikon SB900 flash

CooledgeR Loc: Sunny (Hot) Arizona

Dick

How often is I/R used in your experience?

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

I find this discussion interesting, because these days more people have cameras and any photo could become evidence(Boston Marathon bombing, for example.) It's not photography, but I once had to PP a 911 call recording to bring out a voice in the background - with no prior experience and just an audio processing program - for an agency that needed it in 4 hours for a murder trial. You never know when you'll be the nearest "expert"...

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Here is my original post on this thread:


Thank you! It is not so much that I expected your thread to be about forensic than it was my perception that the subject was tending to go in that direction.

I have never been an official forensic photographer, more of an accidental one. As an EMT and member of an ad-hoc team (one Deputy Sheriff and an EMT) traveling together on (primarily weekend) nights is a highly rural county, my job was to perform basic triage and minor first response before calling in one of only three ambulances in the county. Early on, I found it advantageous to be able to document scenes and victims (both alive and dead) to supplement the inevitable incident reports. I read a couple of books provided by the Coroner and was able, eventually, to record pertinent facts without completely fouling a crime scene. Inasmuch as a high rate of unemployment seemed to fuel alcohol consumption, domestic abuse cases were frequent, and often the photographs I took, developed by the County Criminal Scientific Investigation Unit (a 1980's version of a CSI division and never touched by me after the camera was unloaded), ended up as evidence. I was never called to testify as a photographer, although I testified at trials and inquests as a first responder. Also, traffic accidents (again often fueled by alcohol) had to be photographed before roadways were cleared; fortunately the CHP was very well trained in handling such tasks on the freeway, state and (often) rural streets. Since then, I have been fascinated by the amount of information that could be garnered from a few photographs. Thus my interest in forensic photography.

By the way, I was invited by the Coroner to photograph autopsies, although my pictures became county property and the only time I saw the results was when a Coroner's Assistant was able to show my my pictures next to the Polaroids taken for the official record by the Coroner.

Thanks again, Rongnongno.

dickparkans Loc: Arizona

How often is I/R used in your experience?


I have never had the chance to try one.

dickparkans Loc: Arizona

I love to photograph autopsies. How a person died is a fascinating science and to see what happens to the body in a high speed car crash or shooting is amazing. Am I sick???? No. I just love my job.