Reflections

The technology that can distort and manipulate digital media is developing at break-neck speeds, and it is imperative that the technology that can detect such alterations develop just as quickly. The field of photo forensics seeks to restore some trust to photography.
At their foundation, photo forensic techniques rely on understanding and modeling the imaging pipeline, from the interaction of light with the physical 3-D world, the refraction of light as it passes through the camera lenses, the transformation of light to electrical signals in the camera sensor, and, finally, the conversion of electrical signals into a digital image file. This set of lectures focuses on the first part of the imaging pipeline, so-called physics-based techniques.