Crime Scene Photography for Patrol

Bad crime scene photos get cases thrown out, confuse juries, and hand defense attorneys easy wins. Most patrol officers learned to take scene photos on the fly, with no real instruction in exposure, sequence, or what prosecutors actually need. This course fixes that.

Crime Scene Photography for Patrol is a two-hour Idaho POST-certified online course designed for the first responder who is already juggling a hundred things on scene. The course covers digital photography fundamentals, camera settings, light conditions, evidentiary shooting sequences, and advanced documentation techniques for injuries, vehicles, and blood evidence. You will shoot photos along with the instructor, not just read a slide deck about it.

What You Will Learn

• Camera settings: exposure, aperture, ISO, and shutter speed explained for field use, not a photography class.
• Types of light and how to work with available light, flash, and mixed-light conditions at crime scenes.
• iPhone camera settings, limitations, and when your department phone is and is not sufficient for evidentiary documentation.
• Composition and focus for crime scene photography. How to frame a shot so the evidence is clear and usable in court.
• The correct sequence for overall, mid-range, and close-up photographs. The documentation standard that builds a complete evidentiary record from any scene.
• Evidentiary shooting for objects, injuries, vehicles, and full scenes. What changes between subject types and why.
• Advanced conditions: low light, nighttime documentation, reflective surfaces, and blood evidence photography.
• HDR, panoramas, and close-up versus macro photography. When each technique applies in law enforcement documentation.

Course Format

Online, self-paced. Two hours. Idaho POST-certified. $40. Interactive format: you shoot alongside the instructor and receive photographic feedback during the course.

What This Course Covers

Crime Scene Photography for Patrol is a two-hour Idaho POST-certified online course that teaches you to take photographs that hold up under cross-examination. That means the right exposure, the right angles, the right sequence, and documentation that a prosecutor can use and a defense attorney cannot easily attack.

You will shoot photos along with the instructor during the course, not just watch someone else do it. By the end you will have practiced the techniques, not just read about them.

• Digital photography fundamentals: how your camera sensor works and why it matters in the field.
• Camera settings: exposure, aperture, ISO, and shutter speed explained in plain language with direct application to crime scene conditions.
• Types of light and how to work with them. Available light, flash, and how different lighting conditions affect evidence documentation.
• Focus and composition for evidentiary photography. How to frame a shot so the evidence is clear and the context is preserved.
• iPhone camera strengths, limitations, and settings. What your department phone can and cannot do reliably in evidence documentation.
• HDR, panoramas, and close-up versus macro photography. When each technique applies and when it creates problems.
• Evidentiary shooting: objects, injuries, vehicles, and scenes. The sequence of overall, mid-range, and close-up photographs that builds a complete evidentiary record.
• Advanced conditions: low light, nighttime, reflective surfaces, and blood evidence documentation.

Most law enforcement training exists because someone needed to fill a POST requirement. You've sat through that training. You know exactly what it looks like.

RTI courses are built by working investigators who got tired of watching officers fail in the field because their training never matched reality. Every module is grounded in current forensic science, tested against real case outcomes, and built to hold up in court, not just in a classroom.

No rubber-stamp certificates. No recycled slide decks from a decade ago. No instructors whose only qualification is that they once attended the course they're now teaching.

If you do the work, you'll leave with skills you can use on your next shift.
That's the standard RTI trains to.

Is this course Idaho POST-certified?

Yes. Crime Scene Photography for Patrol is Idaho POST-certified.

Do I need an expensive camera to take this course?

No. The course covers both dedicated cameras and iPhone photography. You can apply most of the instruction with equipment you already carry.

Is this course online?

Yes. Fully online and self-paced. Two hours of POST-certified instruction.

Who is this course for?

Patrol officers who document crime scenes and incident scenes on shift. No prior photography experience is required.

Will this course actually improve my crime scene photos?

You shoot alongside the instructor during the course and get direct practice on the techniques covered. The format is designed to build a working skill, not just introduce concepts.