Is your expert an expert?
On a recent case opposing counsel hired a forensic photographer. The case involved an accident at night in which visibility was a key factor. The role of the forensic photographer in a case like this is to photograph the area to visually show what a person could see in...
Continue ReadingWhen to hire an expert
I was recently retained on a civil case just a month before the trial date. When called about the case, I was told that the firm never thought of hiring a forensic photographer until one showed up in opposing counsel’s expert list. In this case, I needed to photograph...
Continue ReadingImaging Forensics in Singapore
I had the pleasure to present four days of training to the Singapore Police in January. The Singapore Criminal Investigation Division had me over to present training in using Photoshop for analysis and enhancement of video and still images. Agencies in the US often hire me to present in-house training...
Continue ReadingReviving the Blog
In the past fourteen months I’ve posted very sporadically. This post will review some highlights of 2010 and will, hopefully, be the start of more frequent posts. Casework: I had some very interesting cases in 2010, which included forensic photography, photography analysis, video analysis and image authentication. This included one...
Continue ReadingDigital Imaging Institute
Several years ago I thought that there was a need for an organization for photographers and imaging experts who worked in scientific and technical fields. That is, for who work within disciplines where the technical aspects of their work was more important than the aesthetic aspect of their work....
Continue ReadingOpen Letter to Advanced Imaging Magazine
The March, 2010 issue of Advanced Imaging magazine included an article on the use of H.264 compression in security camera systems. I thought the article was interesting, except for a couple of statements that distortion is somehow acceptable in security systems. I sent a letter to the author of...
Continue ReadingTestimony Reviews
When I am scheduled to testify in court, I sometimes notify colleagues in the area and invite them to watch me with the hope that they can provide me with feedback. I’ve done this for a number of years, and have gotten feedback from a few colleagues including Jack...
Continue ReadingReflecting back on 2009
When I think about the past year, and cases I’ve worked, training I’ve received, training I’ve given, there are a few things that stand out. In the arena of cases, I had two unique experiences – A Daubert Hearing in 12/08, and Grand Jury testimony in mid-2009. The Daubert Hearing was...
Continue ReadingPhotoshop Feature Requests
When I present workshops, many people frequently ask for a handful of features. Two of the most popular are improvements to the History Log and getting back the LayerComps to PDF script. Two questions that are raised when these issues are brought up include, “Why is it this way?”...
Continue ReadingReverse Projection Photogrammetry
The Law Enforcement and Emergency Services Video Association (LEVA) held it’s annual conference this week. I was fortunate to attend the two day pre-conference workshop on reverse projection photogrammetry presented by Richard Vorder Bruegge, Walter Bruehs, and Chris Iber, all from the FBI Forensic Audio, Video, and Imaging Analysis...
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