Measuring Light Intensity 2

Arson and Terrorism

Arson is when a person intentionally lights fire to property that is not considered waste. An arson can be one of many types of people, one that  likes to see fire such as a pyromaniac, A person who is distraught or disturbed, one who wants to punish another person  for doing wrong to them, one that is involved in insurance fraud, one who has mental problems and wishes to put pain and suffering on others.

Arsonist light fires many different ways, they can use deterrents or timing devices such as cigarettes, fuses, candles, electric mechanisms, stoves,  paper, and rages to create an alibi thus changing the timing of the fire.  

Arson is suspected when an expert has evidence that supports the fact that the fire was not accidental. Questioning should start with whoever is on the scene first business owners, workers, customers, and tenants.

Arson has been a problem since man discovered fire. It is the effect of burning a person’s belongings and thus taking away from them what they have built or earned.

The accent Greeks at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the great temple was built by Croesus, king of Lydia, in about 550 bc and was rebuilt after being burned by a madman named Herostratus in 356 bc. The Artemesium was famous not only for its great size (over 350 by 180 feet [about 110 by 55 m]) but also for the magnificent works of art that adorned it. The temple was destroyed by invading Goths in ad 262 and was never rebuilt. Little remains of the temple (though there are many fragments, especially of sculptured columns, in the British Museum), but excavation has revealed traces of both Croesus’ and the 4th-century temple and of three earlier, smaller ones.

Fire has been used throughout history as a weapon for one to protect them self or defend against incoming invaders of castle walls and battle fields. Arson has been a problem for thousands of years.

Terrorism

.Terrorism has struck the United States, during the 911 attacks on the world trade center more than 2000 thousand people died. Seeing terrorism first hand every since the sinking of the USS Cole in Yemen it has been a fact that the United States of America has had to deal with.

Many factors take place when you enter the realm of terror, then questions must be answered like whom, what, when, why and how, this has plagued the Middle East for some time now. We have entered the 21st century wondering why people are so adversely against each other and their beliefs. One must understand why a group, weather religious or militant may disagree with others beliefs so vigilantly that they result to terrorize the opposing group.

Understanding terrorism, just like the Neo Nazis reign on the Jewish religion in Germany the Al Qaeda group has been bringing destruction among peaceful people using explosive force that only federal officials are able to comprehend. Due to the sensitivity of the subject many overseas, countries and groups deny that terrorism exists.  Terrorism in the 1980’s was mostly produced by taking hostages that were on vacation or on air plans, this changed in 1989 starting the fist Golf war, where the president of Iraq Sad am Hessian was killing thousands of Nomads who lived on the out skirts of the Iraqi providence. When Iraq invaded Kuwait and took control of their oil wells this demonstrated a total disregard for human life and treaty agreements from the former UK republic of Kuwait which gained independence in 1961.

Some of the ways we combat against terrorism is to heighten security. Using terrorism awareness and associated anti terrorism groups such as the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security department of the government; in this way we can combat against terrorism and make the United States and the world a better place to live in.       

References

Copyright © 2007 Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.

Licensed to Kaplan University in Agreement with LexisNexis Anderson Publishing

Britannica Encyclopedia Reference guide

Measuring Light Intensity

The Inverse Square Law demonstrates the distance between an object and the light array needed to display the object. By moving the camera or object further away you will need more light to display the object within the same lighting as the closer photograph. To balance the light needed for the photograph you must calculate the difference between a close light array and a far light array. From a   starting point of light every time the object movement is doubled the light source must be quadruple. Most often the amount of light that you started with is not enough for the finished product that is located further from the camera than the first photograph. In general you will multiply the starting point by 4 for every movement twice the distance away from the original light setting.

As you can see in the two upper demonstrations of the Inverse Square Law  that as the light travels out ward it is dispersed among the area and the intensity of the light becomes less. By making calculations to increase the amount of light needed you will provide the proper amount of light to take your photograph.  The easiest way to perform the light calculation is to times the distance by 4. It is important to have the proper amount of light; lets take for example that you have a subject that is 4 ft from the camera you then move the subject double the distance away from the camera then the light calculation would be 16d thus the calculation would be  4*4 , next move the subject 4 more ft and the calculation would be 4*4*4 equaling 64 so it would be 64d and so on and on to quadruple the light array as the object moves further from the camera.      

The flash can have an adverse effect on a subject when used improperly the flash array is able to submit the  subject to too much light in retrospect producing a glair or it could not light the subject at all if the objective is located  too far away from the flash.  Some of the issues with the flash are how powerful the flash is when actuated. Most flash cameras will not be able to take pictures telescoping over 300 meters. This presents problems with taking surveillance in dark areas camera such as hall ways and under bridges. Some other variables that you must look at are areas that do not refract light, hills, pictures located on wet surfaces and photographs where the subject blends in with the surrounding area in these instances you must choose a special procedure in order to take proper precautions producing the correct lighting balance for the photograph.  Other issues you may have when photographing in dark areas are tight places that do not allow enough space to get the view of the whole subject. In the case of a tight area you may want to take the photograph from a ladder or tripod located close to the object. 

References:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/isql.html

http://www.geofflawrence.com/photography_tutorial_inverse_square_law.htm

http://www.energybooks.com/pdf/D1150.pdf

http://www.media-wareness.ca/english/resources/educational/lessons/secondary/television_radio/camera_shots.cfm

http://dpanswers.com/content/nikon_flash_use03.php

A History Of Photography

Photography has been around since the early 1800’s. For the last two hundred and ten years since the first photograph until now the digital camera age photographs and motion picture have advanced industrialization of the world from sales catalogs to internet sales, photographing of crime scenes and objects found at the crime scene give a new meaning to a picture is worth a thousand words.

 Some may argue about when the first picture was taken just as sand stone and shall makes fossil impressions the first photograph was made by Nicephore Niepce the father of photography in 1825, Nicephore  Niepce created a method for photography that used a piece of copper and placed bitumen over the copper. The copper cutout is exposed to light and makes an image which is transferable to paper. Nicephore Niepce took his first photograph of a stile picture of a man holding a horse by its straps this photograph go’s for about 300,000 dollars in today’s market. In 1826  Nicephore Niepce took the second picture the first of a real scene.

In 1838 The first human in a photograph was taken by Louis Daguerre the inventor of the Daguerreotype. The French government bought the Daguerreotype from Daguerre and released it to the public for free.

In 1840 the first Human subject was photographed  by William Henry Fox Talbot  the inventor of the negative and positive photographic processes, took a still picture of a man in front of a coach wagon.

In 1861 the first color photograph was taken by James Clerk Maxwell he photographed a ribbon three times using three different colored lenses then by projecting the tree colored pictures onto a screen all at the same time the light produced a color picture, once all three camera were lined up properly.

In1877 the first color landscape   was photographed by Louis Arthur Ducos Du Hauron who invented the subtractive (cyan, magenta, and yellow) color method. This pioneer in color photographs latter worked on the additive (red, green, and blue) color method.

In 1934 the modern 35 mm film was invented changing the way photography was taken. This film invented by Kodak could be loaded into the camera during broad day light with preloaded reels, the perforated edges that allowed the camera to click in to photo position made the 35 mm Kodak a better camera even though it  was expensive when it came out  costing $175  which is equal to $3,000  today.

Cameras have come a long way from a large photo machine to a little hand held camera the differences between the technology is astonishing. 

Digital cameras technology came about in 1951 from the same technology that recorded television called Video Tape Recorder (VTR). Later in the 1960’s NASA started to use digital cameras to take photos of the moon and the government used digital photography for spy surveillance.  Texas Instruments patented an electronic camera that used no film, in 1972 later in 1981 Sony released the Mavica electronic still camera it was the first commercial electronic camera, the photographs were recorded onto a Mini disc. The Mavica took video freeze frames so they did not consider it a true digital camera.

In 1987 Kodak released seven different products for manipulating still video images. In 1991 Kodak released the first digital camera system it was the Nikon F-3 Digital1.3 pixel camera Kodak marketed the camera for photojournalist.

The first consumer Digital cameras where the 1994 Apple Quick take 100,1995 Kodak DC-40,1995 Casio QV 11, and  1996 Sony Cyber Shoot digital  still camera.  All of which had the expensive binocular look to them.

Today quick point and shoot cameras are made for ease and fun they have less features to get in the way and make good photographs. It helps to have a quick point and shoot camera because they are easy to conceal and put into your pocket when you get finished taking photographs. These cameras are less expensive and add about the same quality as a larger more expensive digital camera. The one thing that these cameras do not have is the user ability to make camera adjustments that are needed in some conditions.

The DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras take straight even pictures better than the smaller quick point and shoot digital cameras making them a little more professional than the smaller cameras. The DSLR cameras have exchangeable lenses, external flash and optical view finders. The DSLR cameras tend to be bulkier, weigh more, and cost more than the single shoot cameras. You can buy a DSLR camera for less than a thousand dollars now days. Most people prefer smaller easier to use cameras that cost less when dropped, lost,or stolen the more costly larger cameras are mostly for enthusiast who like to take a professional picture every once in awhile.

Some of the improvements cameras have made in the Justice System are due to the fact that cameras are devices and do not lie. If you do not edit the pictures in an incorrect manner, the photograph evidence is labeled properly, and has correct chain of custody; a picture can prove to be a hard piece of evidence to defend against. Most prosecution use pictures as supportive evidence to let the jury know that that they have no doubt of who committed the crime and the investigation tells the jury why. As evidence goes photographs are quicker and easy to display unlike video tapes and surveillance cameras. 

Reference

http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Ny-Pi/Photography.html

http://listverse.com/2009/01/13/top-10-incredible-early-firsts-in-photography/

http://photo.net/history/timeline

http://www.articlesbase.com/digital-photography-articles/the-different-methods-of-photography-1844887.html

http://www.infoborder.com/Digital_Camera_History/

http//www.yahoo.com/images 

Altering A Crime Scene Photograph

I can only think of several reasons for changing a photograph one is to create a stitch or panorama of a tire track or a foot prints. Another reason to change photographs is to accurately scale the photograph film to make sure it is scaled properly. In both these instances a crime scene investigator would have to use Adobe Photoshop C3 to make the correct changes.

To maintain a fair and accurate depiction of the crime scene you must not change photographs to delete or add items to the photograph that may be misleading. You also need to be able to take photographs that are in the same lighting as the witness sees them. This means that if a witness depicts a crime scene in midday to take photographs that are near midday to depict the crime scene.  A crime scene investigator must always take photographs that are near the accuracy of the size of the actual photograph that they are trying to depict. Other inconsistencies are to accurately depict the size and depth of rooms and hallways photographed by the camera. If these standards are not meet they may disqualify the photographic evidence and have it thrown out of court.

References:

http://www.theiai.org/guidelines/swgit/swgde/swgde_swgit_proficiency_test_document_v1-1.pdf

Criminalistics (An Introduction To Forensic Science) Ninth Edition Author: Richard Safertein Ph.D.  Editor: Pearson Prentice Hall Copyright 2007

Depth of Field

Depth of field allows you to photograph the whole subject matter while keeping the actual focus on the single object. Many photographs will not allow you to take pictures of a single object with distractions in the way moving people, cars, trees, bushes, other photographers, it helps to find a good angle to take photographs from afar while keeping your objective centered. Some of the best pictures use depth of field for objects that either do not fit within regular lens size or need modification to view the whole subject matter. Magnification of the lens plays a big role in focusing  the camera to have depth  of field, another factor of depth of field are the f /stop setting they allow you to view the photograph in the correctly  lighting. Crime Scene investigators should not leave any object out of focus this technique is only used for photographers that take pictures for leisure or sales purposes. All photographs for Crime Scene Investigator must be in focus and directed to the subject matter. 

References:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_dof.html

http://www.photoaxe.com/depth-of-field-photography-tutorial-part-3/

Manipulation of Photographs 

Manipulations are described by adding or deleting details to the photograph. A photograph with the subject centered cannot be edited to delete prudent items from the background. The subject is not to be changed or altered to depict a view of the photograph that was not present when the photograph was first taken. The SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) begins with SWGIT (Scientific Work Group of Imaging Technology) they regulate what changes are acceptable for crime scene investigation photographs that are presented at trial. Manipulations that alter the subject by editing the photograph or deleting items from the photograph that are present in the original copy are not admissible in trail.