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Light Painting

Definition

A technique where a handheld light source is moved across a scene during a long camera exposure to evenly illuminate large areas; the standard approach for night and low-light crime-scene photography.

Related terms

ABFO No. 2 Scale
The right-angle L-shaped reference scale with circular targets used in bite mark photography. Its design enables post-capture correction of lens distortion and...
ENFSI
European Network of Forensic Science Institutes: the voluntary network of national forensic institutes across Europe and neighbouring regions, focused on method harmonisation,...
Equirectangular Projection
A panoramic map projection that preserves angular relationships in all directions; preferred for 360-degree room documentation and virtual reality scene reconstruction.
EXIF Metadata
Exchangeable Image File Format data embedded in a digital image by the camera. Includes date, time, camera model, exposure settings, and GPS...
Four-Tier Protocol
The standard crime-scene photography sequence: overall (establishing), mid-range (relationship), close-up with scale, and close-up without scale. Each tier answers a distinct spatial...
IAI
International Association for Identification; includes the Crime Scene Certification programme requiring demonstrated forensic photography competency.
Nodal Point
The optical centre of a lens from which perspective relationships are computed. Panoramas must rotate around the nodal point to avoid parallax-induced...
Parallel-Plane Requirement
The requirement that the camera sensor plane be parallel to the evidence-and-scale plane to eliminate keystoning distortion and allow accurate metric measurement...
Photo Log
The contemporaneous record tying each forensic image to its capture time, location, equipment, exposure settings, and subject description. The primary chain-of-custody document...
SWGIT
Scientific Working Group for Imaging Technologies (US); publishes multi-section guidelines on crime-scene photography, digital imaging, and specialised photographic techniques for law enforcement.

Explained in

  • Crime-Scene Photography WorkflowA technique where a handheld light source is moved across a scene during a long camera exposure to evenly illuminate large areas; the standard approach for nig...

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