Forensic Photographer Lighting Techniques & Digital Processing Flashcards
7 cards from real CFP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Forensic Photographer Lighting Techniques & Digital Processing flashcards as text
Ultraviolet reflectance photography is most valuable for documenting which type of injury evidence?
Answer: Faded or healed bite marks and old bruising no longer visible to the eye
UV reflectance can reveal pattern injuries in the skin's upper layers months after they have faded from visible view.
A photographer must fill harsh midday shadows falling across outdoor tire impressions. What is the best approach?
Answer: Block direct sunlight with a shading panel, then relight the impression with controlled oblique flash
Shading the impression removes uncontrolled sunlight so the photographer can apply low-angle flash from the optimal direction.
What artifact can oversharpening introduce into a digitally processed fingerprint image?
Answer: Halo edges and false minutiae that could mislead comparison
Aggressive sharpening creates edge halos and artificial detail that can be mistaken for genuine ridge characteristics.
Why is bracketing exposures recommended when photographing a mixed-lighting indoor scene with windows?
Answer: It captures multiple exposure values so both highlight and shadow areas are properly recorded across the series
Bracketing produces a series at different exposures, ensuring that extreme highlights and shadows are each captured with detail somewhere in the set.
When using cross-polarization (polarizers on both the light source and lens), what is achieved in injury photography?
Answer: Elimination of skin surface glare, revealing subsurface bruise detail
Cross-polarization cancels specular skin reflections so subsurface coloration and pattern injuries appear more clearly.
During processing, an examiner applies a Fourier transform (FFT) filter to a fingerprint photographed on a patterned fabric. What is the purpose?
Answer: To isolate and remove the repeating background pattern while retaining ridge detail
FFT filtering removes periodic background interference like fabric weave, leaving the non-repeating friction ridge detail intact.
Which metadata field is most important to verify and preserve for establishing when an evidentiary image was captured?
Answer: The EXIF date/time stamp synchronized to a documented accurate clock
An accurate, verified EXIF timestamp corroborates the documented timeline of scene processing and supports chain of custody.