Photography is a valuable tool used by the master-at-arms, the Naval Investigative Service, and other investigators to make visual records of crime scenes, accidents, or other incidents. Evidence (investigative or forensic) photography is used to show particular items of evidence and their relationship to the scene and to produce closeup pictures of significant parts of the scene.

UNIT ID

PACIFIC FLEET IMAGING COMMAND SAN DIEGO, CA

DIVIN, MEDIA CODE, FY, SEQUENCE NUMBER; DATE OF PHOTOGRAPHY

N0108-SCN-93-00374 21 MAR 1993

CAPTION TEXT

Six-year-old Terry Thomas, a victim of. . . . Brenda has been doing . . .

CREDIT LINE

Official U.S. Navy Photograph by: PH3 Jon T. Boat USN

As a Photographer's Mate, you usually will be working under the direction of an investigator when producing forensic pictures. However, you should take the initiative to learn all you can about the case you are working on. With sufficient information, you can use your judgment to assess the photography requirements, angles of view, supplementary lighting, close-ups, and other factors, such as camera, lens, and film choice. Investigators, especially in crime cases, are often reluctant to give the photographer any information. They would rather you not ask questions and just follow their specific directions of what to photograph. This is often the case because they do not want information leaks that could ruin their case. You must gain their confidence and not discuss the case with anyone outside of the investigative team. On many occasions, investigative leads have been developed solely by studying good forensic pictures provided by a professional photographer.

When photographing any scene as part of an investigation, it is important to make overall pictures of the scene that can be related to the close-ups which you must also take. These overall pictures are important and cannot be sacrificed for any reason. Use wide-angle lenses to obtain these views when you cannot move to a vantage point where a normal lens can be used. When making overall views of the scene, avoid having extraneous elements, such as people and automobiles, or other confusing elements included. Extraneous elements only serve to mislead people viewing the photographs and may obscure important details. Investigators will normally cooperate by clearing the scene for the overall views.

Never take it upon yourself to recreate the scene if it has changed before your arrival. Repositioning elements within the scene or having someone assume the position of a body that has been removed will not be of any help. There is no way of assuring accurate repositioning, and the photographs become suspect as being contrived and made up. You should always photograph the scene as you find it. If the investigator wants to recreate the scene, that is his business. You should not offer to help.

Closeup views of scene elements should be made of any evidence, weapons, aircraft damage, body wounds, and so on, before the evidence is moved. If, for example, a closeup shot is needed of a gun that was thrown under a car, it should first be photographed before the car is moved. This overall or medium shot should show both the car in comparison to other scene elements and its relationship to the gun. Only then should the car be moved to get the closeup shot of the gun

Today, the trend in Navy investigations is to use color film because color photographs represent the subject more realistically than black-and-white film. People see their surroundings in color, and based on this premise, color photography has become completely acceptable for courtroom use. Color pictures convey a more accurate representation of the facts to the court or persons reviewing reports.