Infotech Development Systems Colleges, Inc.

Natera Corner P. Timog Street, Dunao Ligao City 4504

Telephone No. (052) 485-2369/ Mobile No. 0917 8812638

COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDUCATION

COURSE TITLE : FORENSIC PHOTOGRAPHY

COURSE CODE : FORENSIC SCIENCE 1
COURSE CREDIT : 5 UNITS
PROGRAM : BS IN CRIMINOLOGY
YEAR LEVEL/SEM: 2nd YEAR, 2ND SEM

II. LIGHT
A. What does light mean in photography?
Light is an electromagnetic radiation within a certain portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum. It usually refers to visible light, which is visible to the human eye and is
responsible for the sense of sight. It has a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Its wave
travel is said to be characterized in certain extent based on velocity, wavelength and
frequency of the number of vibration of the wave per second.
It is a light source, natural or artificial, and how the position of the light
source relates to the object. The position and quality of light can affect any number
of things in your final image, from clarity to tone to emotion and so much more.

Two General Sources of Light

1. Natural Light - The main source of natural light is the sun. The sun is a star that
is a huge ball of gas. Explosions at the center of the sun produce large amounts of
energy. This energy is released as light and heat. Some of this light reaches Earth
and gives us daylight. The light that comes from the sun is known as white light.
Other forms of natural light include the moon and the stars. The stars provide only
small amounts of light at night as they are billions of kilometers away from Earth. A
full moon, however, can provide quite a lot of light. The light from the moon is just a
light reflected from the sun. Some animals can produce their own light. This is
known as bioluminescence. A chemical reaction is produced in special light producing
cells. This light is then used in a variety of ways but mainly to attract other creatures.
Glow worms, fireflies, some fish and mushrooms are examples of living things that
create their own light.

Sunlight - the light and energy that comes from the sun.
 Kinds of Sunlight
1.1 Bright Sunlight - a sun lighting condition where objects in an open space cast a
deep and uniform or distinct shadow.

1.2 Hazy Sunlight - a sun lighting condition where the objects in an open space cast
a transparent shadow.

1.3 Dull Sunlight - a lighting condition of a sun that no more shadow to be cast by an
object in open space.
2. Artificial Light - The earliest form of lighting was with fire such as burning wood,
candles, gas or oil. Candles were made out of beeswax or tallow (animal fat). Oil
lamps used plant or animal oil and a wick to burn. Now the most convenient source
of artificial light is the electric light.
Types of Electric Light
2.1 Tungsten Filament Bulbs - they are cheap to make and easy to use. They contain
a thin metal filament made out of tungsten (a type of metal). This filament becomes
very hot when electricity flows through it and glows yellow - white. These bulbs last
only about 1000 hours because the filament becomes thinner as it bums.

2.2 Neon Lights - it is commonly used for advertising. Neon is a gas that gives out
light when high - voltage electricity passed through it. By charging the electric
current, up to five (5) different colors can be produced in the same tube.

2.3 Fluorescent Tubes - they are widely used in the office and in home. Fluorescent
tubes are glass tubes that contain mercury vapor. When an electric current is passed
through the mercury vapor it gives off ultraviolet light. This ultraviolet light is
absorbed by phosphor powder that coats the inside of the tube and starts to glow
to make a blue - white light. These lights need special electronic starters to produce
the high voltage needed to start the light.
B. Light Wavelength
It is the distance measured between two (2) successive crest or through of
wave and it is expressed in either Millimicron (nanometer) or Angstrom. Millimicron
is the unit of light wavelength which is equivalent to one - millionth part of a
millimeter which the Angstrom is relatively smaller for it has an equivalent
measurement of ten (10) millionth part of a millimeter.
Once light has a certain medium, its action can be characterized as either:
Reflected, Absorbed, or Transmitted (RAT). Reflected once the light hits a mirror and
it bounce back. Transmitted when the light hits a a transparent glass which would
allow the light to pass through its medium. Absorbed when the light hits a dark
object and prevents it from either bouncing or passing through.
Refraction is the bending of light when the light hits the water while
Defraction is the bending of light when the light hit the sharp edge of opaque objects.

Types of Light
1. Visible Light - a type of light that produces different sensation when it reaches the
human eye. It is a type of light that produces different sensation when reach
the human eye. It is the type of light which is capable of exciting the retina of
the human eye (white light).
2. Invisible Light - a type of light in which their wavelength are either too short or
too long to excite the retina of the human eye. (I.e. X - ray, Ultraviolet and
infrared lights).
⚫ Photographic Rays
A. X - ray - it has the shortest wavelength; the thinnest
Light with the wavelength between .01 to 30 millimicrons. It is produced by
passing an electric current through a special type of vacuum tube. It was
incidentally discovered by Conrad Welhelm Roentgen. This type of light works in the
principle of shadow photography.
B. Ultraviolet ray (Before the violet)
- Radiation having a wavelength of 30 to 400 nanometers, designed to photograph
fingerprints in multi colored background, documents that are colored, decipherment
of erase writing and developing invisible writing. It is commercially known as “black
light” .
C. Visible Light - the type of radiation having a wavelength of 400 to 700 millimicrons
designed for ordinary photographing purposes.
D. Infrared (Beyond the red)
Considered as the photographic rays with the longest wavelength ranging
from 700 to 1000 millimicrons. It is designed to take photographs of over - written
documents, obliterated writing, and charred documents or for black out photography.
Sometimes referred to as heat rays.

III. SPECTRUM
It is the distribution of colors produced when white light is dispersed by a
prism or diffraction grating. There is a continuous wavelength from red, the longest
wavelength, to violet, the shortest. Seven colors are usually distinguished: red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, the whole range of electromagnetic
radiation with respect to its wavelength or frequency any particular distribution or
radiation often showing lines or bands characteristic of the substance emitting the
radiation or absorbing it. Shown in the figure is the different visible spectrum with
their respective wavelength(measured in nanometer, nm).

Kinds of Visible Spectrum

1. Red Light - the visible red light has a wavelength of about 650 nanometer. At
sunrise and sunset, red or orange colors are present because the
wavelengths associated with this colors are less efficiently scattered by the
atmosphere than the shorter wavelength colors (e.g. blue and purple). a
large amount of blue and violet light has been removed as a result of
scattering and the long wave colors, such as red, orange and more readily
seen. The Red light has a 650 nanometer.
2. Orange Light - the visible orange light has a wavelength of about 590 nanometer.
3. Yellow Light - the visible yellow light has a wavelength of about 570 nanometer.
Low - pressure sodium lamps, like those used in some parking lots, emit a
yellow (wavelength 589 nanometer) light.
4. Green Light - The visible green light has a wavelength of about 510 nanometer.
Grass, for example, appears green because all of the colors in the visible part
of the spectrum are absorbed into the leaves of the grass except green.
Green is reflected, therefore, grass appears green.
5. Blue Light - the visible blue light has a wavelength of about 475 nanometer.
Because the blue wavelength is shorter in the visible spectrum, they are
scattered more efficiently by the molecules in the atmosphere. This causes
the sky to appear blue.
6. Indigo Light - the visible indigo light has a wavelength of about 445 nanometer.
7. Violet Light - the visible violet light has a wavelength of about 400 nanometer.
Within the visible wavelength spectrum, violet and blue wavelengths are
scattered more efficiently than other wavelengths. The sky looks blue, not
violet because our eyes are more sensitive to blue light (the sun also emits
more energy as blue light than as violet).

⚫ The visible spectrum describes all of the kinds of light, including those the
human eye cannot see. In fact, most of the light in the universe is invisible to
the human eye. The light we can see, made up of the individual colors of the
rainbow, represents only a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

IV. PRISM
Prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract
light. At least two (2) of the flat surfaces must have an angle between them. The
exact angles between the surface depend on the application.
The traditional geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a
triangular base and rectangular sides, and in colloquial use “prism” usually refers to
this type.
Some types of optical prism are not in fact in the shape of geometric prisms.
It can be made in any material that is transparent to the wavelengths for which they
are designed. Typical materials include glass, plastic and fluorite.
A dispersive prism can be used to break light up into its constituent spectral
colors (the rainbow colors). Furthermore, prism can be used to reflect light or to split
light into components with different polarization.
 V. ADDITIVE COLOR
Additive color is a color created by mixing a number of different light colors,
with shades of red, green and blue being the most common primary colors used in
the additive color system.
Additive color is in contrast to subtractive color, in which colors are created
by subtracting (absorbing) parts of the spectrum of light present in ordinary white
light, by means of colored pigments or dyes, such as those in paints, inks and the
three (3) dye layers in typical color photographs on film.
The combination of two (2) of the standard three (3) additive primary colors
in equal proportions produces an additive secondary color namely cyan, magenta
and yellow which in the form of dyes or pigments, are the standard primary colors in
subtractive color systems. The subtractive system can be viewed as an alternative
=of red, green and blue light that reach the eye. James Maxwell is credited as being
the Father of Additive Color.

Additive Color Combined in Equal Parts

Color Combination Creates
Blue + Green Cyan
Red + Blue Magenta
Green + Red Yellow
Red + Green + Blue White

Additive Color Combined in Unequal Parts

Color Combination Creates
1 Green + 2 Red Orange
1 Red + 2 Green Lime
1 Green + 1 Blue + 4 Red Brown
 VI. SUBTRACTIVE COLOR

A subtractive color model explains the mixing of a limited set of dyes, inks,
paint pigments or natural colorants to create a wider range of colors, each the result
of partially or completely subtracting that is absorbing some wavelengths of light
and not others. The color that a surface displays depends on which parts of the
visible spectrum are not absorbed and therefore remain visible.

Subtractive color systems start with light, presumably white light. Colored
inks, paints or filters between the watchers and the light source or reflective surface
subtract wavelengths from the light, giving it color. If the incident light is other than
white, our visual mechanisms are able to compensate well, but not perfectly, often
giving a flawless impression of the “true” color of the surface.

Subtractive Color
Combination of Additive Primary Colors
Color Combination Absorbs Creates
Blue + Green Red Cyan
Red + Blue Green Magenta
Green + Red Blue Yellow

Subtractive Color
Combination of Subtractive Primary Colors
Color Combination Absorbs Creates
Cyan + Magenta Red & Green Blue
Cyan + Yellow Red & Blue Green
Cyan + Magenta + Yellow Red, Green & Blue Black
 VII. IMPORTANCE OF LIGHT IN PHOTOGRAPHY

Light is very important in the field of photography for without it, exposure is
impossible to happened. It is designed to to capture or record the image of the
object into the emulsion of film or memory card of digital camera during picture
taking and to project the image from the negative copy to the emulsion of
photographic paper as regard to printmaking process.

Exposure

⚫ it is the quantity of light allowed acting on a photographic material; a product of

the intensity controlled by the lens opening and the duration controlled by the
shutter speed or enlarging time of light striking the film or paper.
⚫ it is the act of allowing light to reach the light sensitive emulsion of the
photographic sensitized material.
⚫ It is the amount duration and intensity of light which reaches the film.
⚫ Exposure in photography would happened twice around first during photo shoot
with the aid of light,film and camera. And lastly, during printmaking process with
the aid of enlarger machine or contact printer and photographic paper.

Exposure during photo shoot Exposure during printmaking

process

Kinds of Exposure

1. Under exposure - it happens when the quantity of light reaching the

emulsion of sensitized materials are deficient with the needed quantity to
make it normal. A negative copy could be considered under exposure when it
has a high contrast image. On the other hand, a photograph may be
described as under exposed when it has a loss of shadow detail, that is when
important dark areas are “muddy” or indistinguishable from black, known as
“blocked up shadows” or sometimes “crushed shadows”, “crushed blacks”, or
“clipped blacks” especially in video.
2. Normal exposure - otherwise known as correct exposure. This result of
exposure occurs when the quantity of light reaching the emulsion of
sensitized materials is sufficient not over or under. A negative and positive
could be considered normal exposed when it has normal contrast image.
3. Over exposure - this could happen when the quantity of light reaching the
emulsion of sensitized materials exceeded with the prescribed amount of light
which supposed to be necessary for better result. A negative copy could be
considered over exposed when it has a low contrast image. While a
photograph may be described as over exposed when it has a loss of highlight
detail, that is, when important bright parts of an image are “washed out” or
effectively all white, known as “brown - out highlight” or “clipped whites”.

Prepared by:

Zharina Jinky B. Sta. Ana, PhDCrim.

Dean, CCJE
Instructor, Forensic Photography