I met with an investigator on a case last week to discuss her need for Forensic Video Analysis in a homicide case. During out meeting, she asked about the other work I do in photographic analysis and photography services. When I finished, she asked me for a handful of cards so she can let other investigators and attorneys know about my services – she said, “I need to tell others about you!” She had already viewed my website, but some of the things weren’t as clear as they could be, and I realized that I could do a better job in explaining what areas of expertise I work in, and when attorneys could use my services.

This post will just introduce this topic, and I’ll follow-up with more specific examples in the coming weeks. Here are the basics of what I do, in the coming posts I’ll discuss each area with examples from cases to illustrate how this applies to a variety of criminal and civil cases.

To begin with, my expertise is in forensic photography, photographic analysis, and video analysis.

In photography, I provide witness perspective photography, illustrative photography, accurate photographs of evidential items, injury photography, etc. I have photographed scenes to show evidence, to measure distances, to show what someone saw, etc.

In photographic analysis, I provide clarification of images that may be too dark, blurry, from a bad angle, etc. I also provide authentication – to determine if the image is a camera original; and if not, to determine if it represents what it purports to (if it’s been Photoshopped). And, I provide comparisons – is the subject in one photograph the same as a known object (same car, same person, same make and model of valve, etc.). I can also help determine the relationship of subjects in the photographs to each other.

In video analysis, I provide evaluation of the video (what is happening, and are there factors that can be causing someone to misinterpret the events in the video); comparison – is the subject in the video the same as the known object; clarification – stabilizing shaky video, deblurring, adjusting brightness and color, etc.); illustration – following the action in the video, synchronizing multiple video files together, combining video with maps, timestamps, or other events to give a more complete picture of the events.

And, of course, I can evaluate the work of opposing experts to see if they have provided a correct view of the evidence.

My next post will discuss a case I worked for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office recently that resulted in the defense withdrawing all of their proffered video evidence.