Adobe Photoshop for Questioned Document Examination – A Workshop

 This hands-on workshop will cover the digital imaging workflow using Adobe Photoshop for Question Document Examination. Then we will work on several images to illustrate how to use Photoshop to accomplish the tasks you consider most important.

 Unlike other workshops – you get to pick the topics that we include. Here’s how. I have a list, below, of several topics that may be of interest. You send me an email of which two or three you would like to see presented. I’ll add up the votes and we’ll cover the topics that get the most votes.

Vote by sending me an email with your preferred topics at reis@imagingforensics.com

Possible topics:

Creating PDF Court Displays:              

We can create a Photoshop Action (shortcut) to make this process virtually automatic. Creating displays will be almost as simple as pressing a button.

Illustrating Physical Matches:

Bring two or more images into a single document and rotate them to determine if the edges match.

Creating Overlays:

Overlap two objects/signatures to determine if they are from the same source.

Separating Ink Colors:

Eliminate backgrounds, separate overlapping signatures

Other:

Is there something you want to do in Photoshop that isn’t listed here? Offer a suggestion.

You can download a free one-week Photoshop trial at https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html. Please download a couple of days before the workshop and make sure that everything is working properly. If not, you can email me to attempt to troubleshoot.

The Gray Area Between Image/Video/Photographic Analysis and Questioned Document Analysis

Several Case Studies

In this presentation, George Reis will take us through several cases he has worked in which there is not a clear-cut determination as to whether the case is best analyzed by a questioned document examiner or an imaging expert. Perhaps using both is best.

The first case Reis will discuss is one he worked in 2004 and 2005, when he first started his business. It involved signatures that were manipulated in Adobe Photoshop and placed onto a model release.

The final case will be similar – a case in which everyone agreed that documents were manipulated using Photoshop, but the question came up as to the extent of that manipulation. This case was a civil case valued at $1.1 billion, and heard in London.

Other cases will include authentication, enhancement, and a possible use for AI and Machine Learning.

Image Authentication

Methods, Applications, and Software Choices

In this presentation we will look at methods for analyzing digital documents for the purpose of authentication. Authentication determines if the file is what it purports to be, if it is a fair representation of the subject, if it was created when it was purported to have been created, if it has been manipulated, etc. This will include analyzing the file metadata, the file structure, and the file content. We will discuss the use of freeware as well as commercial software, the authentication workflow, and methods for visual analysis.