FORENSIC

PHOTOGRAPHY

• Definition of photography,
• Cameras and its working
 Photography
• Art and practice of creating pictures by recording radiation on radiation
sensitive material.
• Word is derived from the Greek words – photos : light and graphein : to draw.
• Picture of any object or event recorded on a light sensitive paper by the
process of photography is called an image.
 Importance of Photography
• Used for keeping permanent record of crime scene as an aid in investigation.
• Military, Police and security forces use photography for surveillance,
recognition and data storage.
 Image Formation
• Photographic images are the result of chemical interaction of silver halide with
radiant energy to produce metallic silver.
• Photographic paper contain microscopic silver halide grains embedded in
gelatin known as emulsion.
• Grains undergo an invisible chemical change to form a latent image.
• Latent image is developed through chemical process, where fraction of grains
adequately exposed to the radiation transform to metallic silver thus creates a
visible image.
 Camera
• It is an image forming device.
• Components :
– Light proof box
– Lens
– Shutter
– Aperture
– Viewfinder
– Chamber to hold light sensitive material
– Mechanism to transport
 Types of Camera
• Camera Obscura:
– invented by a scientist called Johannes
Kepler.
– Originated from Latin name meaning
“dark chamber”.
– Dark chamber with small aperture on
one side.
– Inverted image of the outside scene was
formed on the opposite wall.
– Modifications : lenses were incorporated,
Mirror were also used to view the image
on outside surface.
Room-sized camera
obscura, San Francisco,
California.
• Box Camera :
– Small lens in front and roll film holder at back.
– Box was made of plastic or cardboard.
– 2-3 openings were provided to control
exposure.
– Lens was immovable.
– Focus is fixed at hyperfocal distance.
• Folding Camera :
– Lens and shutter is fixed on a leather
bellow.
– When camera is on, bellow moves out and
gives correct focus to lens.
– Camera was portable and handy.
• Twin Lens Reflex :
– Two objective lenses, of same focal length, are
fixed on a metal plate.
– Upper lens : Viewing
– Lower lens : for capturing Photograph
– Size of the image viewed will be different from
recorded image.
• Single lens Reflex :
– One lens serves the purpose of viewing
and taking pictures.
– 35mm is commonly used.
– Mirror is placed behind lens at 45 degree.
– Light passing through lens is reflected by
mirror to the prism, which can be seen
through viewfinder.
– Once shutter button is pressed, mirror
swings upwards and light rays hit the
film.
• Rangefinder Camera :
– Captures image by using coincident – viewing
distance determination mechanism, called
rangefinder.
– Rangefinder show two images of the same
subject, one of which moves when a
calibrated wheel is turned; when the two
images coincide and fuse into one, the
distance can be read off the wheel.
– When two images are perfectly overlaid, lens
is in proper position and the image on the film
plane is in focus.
 Working of Camera
• Three basic elements:
– optical element (the lens)
– chemical element (the film)
– mechanical element (the camera body )
• A camera lens collects and focuses the light on film which is made up of light
sensitive materials. When those materials are hit with light from the lens, they
capture shape of the objects and details like how much light is coming off of
them.
• Then, in dark room, the film is exposed to the light and put in a series of
chemical baths to eventually create the image.
 Common terms
• Aperture :
– Size of the opening in the lens thus controls the amount of light that enters into
camera.
– Determines exposure.
– Measured in f-stops. Small f-stop (f/1.8) is a wide opening and large f-stop (f/22) is
a very narrow one.
• Depth of Field:
– Distance between the closest and farthest object within the focused zone of an
image.
– how much of the image is in focus.
– Range of distance in front and behind that point that stays sharp—depth of field.
• Exposure:
– how light or dark an image is.
• Focal Length:
– Distance (in mm) between the lens and the image it forms on the film.
– how ‘zoomed in’ your images will appear. (35mm lens will create images that appear
more ‘zoomed in’ than a 18mm).
• Focus:
– Something that is in focus is sharp, while an object that is out-of-focus isn’t sharp.
• ISO (film speed ):
– Sensitivity of camera to light.
– Higher ISO for getting shots in low light.
• Noise:
– Little flecks in an image, also sometimes called grain.
• Shutter Speed :
– Time period for which shutter stays open, written in seconds or fractions of a
second, like 1/200 s.
• Contrast :
– Range of tonal difference between the shadows and lights of an image.
• Diaphragm :
– Mechanical device inside a camera lens that controls the aperture.
• Resolution :
– Dimension in megapixels that a camera sensor is able to capture.
– Higher resolution capture a larger amount of detail in photos.
 Types of Camera Lenses
• Lenses bring light to a
fixed focal point.
• Camera lenses are made
up of a series of glass
plates that are convex
(curved outward) or
concave (curved inward).
• Different lenses may make
the scene viewed in the
view finder appear to be
different.
• Normal Lens / Standard Lenses :
– Portrays a scene as perceived by the eye i.e they
have human-like viewpoint.
– Focal length : usually between 35mm and 85mm.
• Macro Lenses :
– Used to create very close-up, macro
photographs.
– Reproduces an image on the sensor plane or film
plane that is of similar size to that of the actual
physical subject. (1:1)
– Used to capture life sized image of objects.
– Focal length : 60 mm to 105 mm or 200 mm
– Have small aperture to maximize DOF.
• Telephoto Lenses :
– Type of zoom lens with multiple focal points.
– Great for capturing a far away subject.
– Narrower field of view.
– Long focal lengths, starting at 85mm to
1200mm.
– Compresses foreground and background.
Object appear closer together than they
actually were.
– Narrow DOF.
• Wide Angle Lenses:
– Short focal length: from 14 to 35mm.
– Create a large depth of field.
– Ideal for fitting a large area into your frame.
– Useful for landscape photography or street
photography.
– Elongates foreground and background i.e
make background appear further away than
it really was.
• Zoom lenses:
– Versatile, with the most popular being the 70-200 mm lens.
– Variable focal lengths.
– Bigger and heavier
– Allow to change focal length without changing lens.
• Fisheye Lenses :
– Wider field of view.
– Ultra wide angle lenses
– Focal length between 4mm to 14mm.
– Gives the image a convex appearance that distorts straight lines.
– lowest focal lengths can result in circular images that provide a 180° view.