2 - Photographic Enhancement

As many pieces of technological equipment or devices as there are, there are some that are more important or more useful than others. From the computer system AFIS and CODIS (which has been around for about fourteen years) to a new machine that can lift fingerprints off dangerous or explosive objects, there are new pieces of technology that are helping move the science of forensics forward every day.
One simple but highly effective technology is photographic enhancement. When the police or criminal investigators take or obtain photos from the crime scene, sometimes they are not always distinguishable, and can be difficult to see objects, people, or written elements in the picture. With computers and specific programs, investigators and policemen can magnify, brighten, darken, or adjust the color settings of images to make them clearer and discernible. The specialists who enhance photos in the lab use software that is very similar to what many people use at home with their own digital cameras.
Image enhancement is generally used to enhance defaced, blurred, or latent prints and has also been successfully applied to questioned or suspicious documents, tool marks, bite marks, photographic evidence, and fracture matches. Image enhancement is also used in medical examination cases (for example, to enhance tattoos and scars on decomposed bodies). And with the developing technology in computers these days, photo enhancement can be very effective, helpful, and reliable.