Digital photography is used in criminal and civil investigations to prove or disprove guilt and liability. Because of the importance of these cases, the photographs must contain an exceptional level of clarity and detail and often use a technique called macro imaging to ensure a broad depth of field in extreme close up photography.

Accuracy And Detail

The photographs taken may be the only available evidence during a case. Biological samples such as bloods stains may change their character over time, obscuring information originally available. It may not be possible to examine some physical evidence. A car could not be brought into a courtroom, while a small object may be impossible to examine without magnification.

Since judges, attorneys and juries will be examining the photographs in detail, they need to contain as much information as possible. Tight close ups reveal fine details that may prove critical in a case. Standard photography is not capable of producing clear images when zoomed in very close. Macro imaging is a specialized lens setting used for extreme close ups. It brings a much larger area of the image into sharp focus, allowing observers to see finer details.

Fit For Court

As photographers push their cameras to extremes of proximity and magnification, small optical artifacts can distort the final image. Spherical distortions change the scale around the edges of the image and may cause observers to misjudge the actual size of objects in the photograph. This is more pronounced when using standard lenses but can happen in macro imaging as well.

Photographers often need to take multiple pictures to give viewers a clear three-dimensional image of a scene. Viewers can be confused about the size and distance of objects in the image other than the primary subject. Pictures of the same object from multiple angles illustrate more clearly how each object is placed in relation to other items. Forensic photographers typically take pictures to show the overall scene, and then zoom in to important objects to capture details.

Use In Future Cases

Nobody knows what information in a photograph will be important later. Consider a photograph of a broken tool might used in a liability case against the tool's manufacturer. It may seem like a clear case of poor manufacturing, but an expert might be able to show how the pattern of breakage contradicts the witness's story. Macro imaging brings out sharper detail than the unaided human eye can detect, and can reveal new facts in a case.

As technology improves, forensic photographs can be examined decades later to glean new information. This can change the ruling in that particular case, or be used as evidence in related incidents. The more information a photograph contains and the sharper the details in the image, the more useful that photograph will be in the future.

The importance of the information contained in forensic photographs means it should be handled only by an experienced professional with experience in macro imaging.