Days Two and Three

These past few days have been really hectic - I've only just got the chance (and the internet connection!) to post this now.
On the second morning at the Miami-Dade ME's office, we had the first of a series of lectures over two days for Forensic Photography. After the morning meeting, in which there were around ten or eleven cases for the day, we went back to the lecture hall and met up with Lenny, a forensic photographer.
We first went into the photography lab where he showed us some representative pictures of what they can be told to do - some autopsy pictures (including a uterus with a fetus inside), some pictures of drug busts (you would not believe the amount of effort these people use when trying to ship drugs into the country) as well as some crime scene photos.
Instead of having the regular floor lighting system (like what the school photographer would bring in on picture day), their system was in the ceiling. You would attach a light to a hook on a movable ramp on the ceiling and then you could position it however you liked. They use this to minimize the reflection you can get in normal pictures, and to make sure you get the most amount of detail in one shot.
They also had a printer like the ones you see in a one-hour photo place. As he was explaining this, someone came into the room and asked for their scene photos - and there were 141 pictures in it! After he finished explaining about the rest of the equipment, we went back to the lecture hall and he gave us an introduction into photography, and how distance, illumination, angling of the flash and many other things all contributed to the final picture.
In the afternoon, a sales rep from a microscope company came in to demonstrate their product. While this wasn't part of our lecture, it was fascinating. The microscope had such a high resolving power that when the rep put it up to his face; we were able to see the blood cells flowing through the capillaries on the monitor!

On the second day of Forensic Photography, after the morning meeting (7-8 cases) we went to went to the gun range that is also within the ME's office(!). Lenny brought us up and explained how they are able to take a picture of something that moves at a rate of about 1000-2000 metres per second. The exposure time, rather than being 2/50th of a second is closer to 1 microsecond, and it really does capture the image sharply. After he finished explaining, we shuffled out of the room and watched as he made sure everything was working properly (flash, camera, computer) and then loaded the gun and fired. I was surprised at the noise . . even hearing the sound on TV wasn't the same as seeing and experiencing it. He fired three different types of rounds, and on each one there was a slightly different noise level, but also they exited the barrel at different speeds and the gunpowder (whether it was burnt or not etc) was also changed. After that, we had some fun with it. We made a Play-doh snowman which was then almost destroyed (except for the hat - it was untouched!) and placed crayons in a line and saw how the path the bullet travel slowed down. The final fun thing we did was put a piece of chalk in front of a card to try and simulate a spatter pattern. Afterwards, Heidi, another photographer, gave us a talk about alternate light sources (infrared, ultraviolet etc). Using these along with colour filters can illuminate, darken, or make something disappear. For instance, using infrared on a shirt with dried blood on it will make the blood darken, while semen stains under ultraviolet will fluoresce. When a cheque or something is forged, using alternate light sources will make the part that has been added disappear, showing the true value. It was fascinating to see the number of different things that a forensic photographer needs to know.
Lenny has also lent us a camera kit for the rest of the time that we are here. A typical photographer's kit includes the camera, a 17-80 mm lens, a macro lens, a outside flash with long cord and an external battery source, as well as the caps and lens shade that goes with the lenses. This kit typically runs from 2000-3000 dollars! He showed us how to use them, and I helped demonstrate the difference between the different f-stops (aperture of the camera), as well as using the flash that is on the camera vs. the outside flash. When you have a large aperture, more light is let in, so you need less time to capture the image, and when there is a small aperture, less light is let in, so you need to compensate for it by using the larger flash.
That was the end of the workshop, but we still had around two hours before the bus came to get us, so my group went to the bone room and we picked out one of our cases. We managed to almost entirely finish sexing the skeleton (estimating the sex using the pelvis and skull) before we got kicked out by the other group who also wanted to work on their cases. ;)

The two days spent in the lecture hall about forensic photography were very interesting, but I'll be glad to get back into the autopsy room tomorrow!