Posted By jom Anyone have any practical tips for photographing accident scenes? Good tips for persons who may not be skilled photographers, and will have to use whatever cameras and equipment are to hand. Could we omit the legal considerations, please? There is another thread adequately working on those. I've noticed that much important information can be found around the accident site. People probably focus on the precise accident site, but they ought to photograph all around as well. Deep shadows can cause alot of detail to be lost. How can an amateur photographer avoid that? John.

Posted By jom "Think through your photographs as though they are telling a story." Jane, that's brilliant. That's what needs to be recorded, isn't it? Not just the objects, but "what occurred here?".

Posted By Paul Leadbetter A lot of detail can be recovered from a digital photograph by a competent user of software such as Photoshop that would have been lost forever with film-based images. I review a lot of reports containing photographs that are often blurred through the use of a long exposure time in poor light. Use any convenient support (wall, stanchion, piece of equipment, etc.) to ensure that your camera does not move during the exposure. Alternatively, use a camera with stability control. Paul

Posted By Pete48 David Bailey, I think, once said that the only real difference between a professional and amateur photographer was that whilst the amateur was thinking about taking a picture, the professional had taken 50 and would discard 49 of them later during processing. If there is one common thread to any incident investigation, it is that you don't know what you don't know etc etc. So if there are no obvious pictures to take, just take loads anyway and from different angles, wide area shots to show the surrounding area even the link is ot obvious at the time is often important and as Jane says something to illustrate size if there is nothing obvious in the picture to define that.

Posted By Brett Day Whilst fill in flash can negate shadows, sometimes it is worth taking a photo without the flash to show shadows, if the incident has lighting as a factor showing where the main source of illumination is coming from is also very usefull.

Posted By jom Warren, Light & shadow. I guess this depends on whether the scene is indoors or outdoors. Outdoors, the sun & clouds will have moved, so you can't capture the lighting at the time of the incident. I think the deep shade problem might occur more often with outside shots, particularly with closeups of equipment. John.

Posted By jom David, Now you've introduced the issue of documenting each picture. A digital camera can timestamp each pic, but can't record position. (Some outfits can do this on big incidents using GPS.) What are the options? A notebook A voice recorder A sketch map of the area and mark it up Seems tricky, but necessary. John.

Posted By Brando Presuming this is digital.... I try and avoid flash. Set the ISO to 100 and turn the flash off. Make sure the camera's anti-shake is set to on. Turn the auto-white balance on. Don't use spot focus - depends on you camera but mine has various focus options. Go for one that takes more than one light reading from the subject. In dark areas you may have no choice but to use the flash. If so try the fill-in flash first or try tissue paper over the flash to take the edge off. If going in close make sure you use the macro. My camera has the nasty habit on close ups of looking in focus on the screen but the photos are blurred when blown up onto the computer screen. Main problem I have with photos others have taken is that they often get in too close and forget to take some wide, establishing shots of the area concerned with something for scale. Also - set to the highest quality - you can then zoom in without problems when you get the photo onto the computer. Avoid zoom when taking the photo unless optical - digital zoom can be grainy. Brando

Posted By dave hazell Hi - I always find it important to think "3D" i.e. if the accident is a slip or trip then get down on the floor and photograph potential causes, hazards or just the scene from lower levels, then get up and go right over the top for a bird's eye view. Also think "up & down" as well as "side to side". E.g. Could the water on the floor have come from a leaky roof? A lot can be learned from what is above & below the scene as well as what is at "eye level". Hand prints & footprints are usually a good thing to make note of as well. Just as a note I always date & sign the back of any snaps I take - just in case!