fuckyeahforensics:
Enhancements of Forensic Images
Latent fingerprints are, by definition, left unintentionally and are obtained using diverse physical and chemical techniques. It follows that the initial fingerprint image quality can be very poor. As such, these images are unsuitable for feature marking and entry into database and identification software. To address this problem forensics analysts use image enhancement to amplify the fingerprint image quality and to diminish obscuring features. This process is critical to subsequent analysis, and “before and after” comparisons are striking for the information that image enhancement process reveals. Nevertheless, while considerable research investigates new chemical and physical techniques to obtain images and analyzes fingerprint marking and identification algorithms, analysis of the intermediate image enhancement process generally has been overlooked. Our research will focus on this under explored link in forensic analysis with a goal to increase its systematic characterization and reproducibility.
