Video Enhancement of Video Images

Often times, identification of suspects and perpetrators is accomplished by or in corroboration with video footage. The video footage usually analyzes many features of an individual, one very important feature being the face. The face is a key identifying tool for law enforcement. With it, a person can be matched with almost complete certainty to their facial image. However, video footage is not always easy to work with. Often times, cameras are out of focus, in bad condition, not functioning properly, in poor lighting, or simply of poor quality. This often poses major problems when trying to identify a suspect. When an image is enlarged, it becomes very pixelated, and cisual enhancement does only so much to improve this. Herein lies the problem of using video fotage. The solution: forensic sketch artists. A forensic sketch artist can easily reckognize facial features, and recreate them in a drawing. To replicate the still photograph with detail, a forensic artist can use the visible forehead contouring and bony structures, and selected full front facial features can be drawn in similar proportions. With a magnifying glass, fingerprint loop, or microscope, more detailed shapes, shadows, and images can be readily seen for the artist to replicate and place in proportion. Features such as a jawline (lower mandible) can break in a normal range or in an abnormal (or extreme) shape. When features are unclear or grayed in the image, the forensic artist knows to go the normal route, rather than guess, until further information can be obtained. Lighting and angle of a video camera are other aspects that can help or hinder in image capturing. A forensic artist can be an asset in recreating the facial image captured on videotape, as it is just one frame of a moving motion. Although the finished sketch is not always completely accurate to the individual's facial features, most of the time, enough resemblence is present to make a connection and pinpoint the individual as a suspect.