Table of contents
- Why photo certification is essential today
- What photo certification means from a forensic perspective
- How to certify photos with TrueScreen: step-by-step guide
- TrueScreen’s methodology for photo certification
- The probative value of photo certification
- Practical examples of photo certification with TrueScreen
- How to start using photo certification in your processes
- FAQ on how to certify photos forensically
For years, photos have been at the heart of claims, inspections, audits, HR disputes and legal cases. They are immediate, persuasive and easy to share. But precisely because they are digital – and increasingly generated or altered using artificial intelligence – photos are also among the easiest types of evidence to challenge.
A light retouch, a filter, a crop, a change in the metadata date, or even an image created from scratch with AI: all of this may be enough to raise doubts in court or inside an organization. That is why professionals who work with critical images need not only to take photos, but to rely on true photo certification.
Photo certification is the step that lets you say not only “this is the photo I have”, but also “this is how, when and under which guarantees I captured this photo, and here is how you can verify it independently”.
Why photo certification is essential today
In many sectors, photos have become the “lingua franca” of digital evidence. A claims adjuster documents damage with a smartphone. An HSE technician photographs risk situations on a construction site. A quality manager uses images to show production defects. An HR manager handles photos attached to internal reports.
In everyday practice, however, the workflow is often very simple (and very fragile): you take a photo, save it in the gallery, send it via WhatsApp or email, upload it to a shared folder. From that point on, it becomes almost impossible to reconstruct with certainty whether that image is really the original one, whether it was cropped, filtered or modified, and whether it truly matches the declared date and location.
With editing tools available on every smartphone and generative AI models able to “invent” realistic scenes, challenging a photo is easier than ever. It only takes a doubt: “who can guarantee that this photo has not been changed?”.
Photo certification exists precisely to fill this trust gap, turning a common image into digital evidence that carries a verifiable technical history.
What photo certification means from a forensic perspective
When we talk about photo certification from a forensic perspective, we are not describing a simple digital stamp but a structured process. The goal is to guarantee four key elements: integrity, authenticity, context and trusted timestamp.
Integrity means that the certified photo is exactly the same as the one that was originally captured. No cropping, no editing, no destructive recompression afterwards. This is enforced through technical checks, such as cryptographic hashes, which make any post-certification variation evident.
Authenticity and context mean that photo certification is not limited to the pixels, but also addresses provenance. Which device was used to take the photo? At what time? At what location, if geolocation is available? In which operational context (claim, inspection, site visit)? The photo is thus tied to a coherent story.
Trusted timestamp associates the image with a specific moment. Knowing “roughly when” a photo was taken is not enough in a dispute. Photo certification relies on verifiable time references, through timestamps and mechanisms that anchor the shot to a date and time that can be asserted against third parties.
From a methodological standpoint, TrueScreen adopts a recognized forensic methodology, aligned with international standards for the acquisition and management of digital evidence such as ISO/IEC 27037. This means that photo certification is not just a marketing label, but is part of a framework of best practices recognized internationally, designed to support the legal value of images in different regulatory contexts.
How to certify photos with TrueScreen: step-by-step guide
Taking and certifying photos in real time
The ideal scenario is when you can certify photos at the moment you capture them, for example during a site visit or an inspection.
In practice, the typical flow looks like this: you log into the TrueScreen app or portal with your credentials, select the function dedicated to images (for example “Photos” or “Photo capture”) and take the picture directly within the TrueScreen flow, without passing through the device’s gallery. At the end, you confirm the acquisition and let the platform generate the photo certification.
While you are simply taking photos, in the background TrueScreen collects and links a series of technical elements to each image: date and time, device information, GPS location if available, image parameters, cryptographic hashes. These data points are included in a structured report that transparently documents how the photo was acquired.
The result is not just a .jpg or .png file, but a certified photo with associated forensic documentation.
Certifying existing photos (library import)
It is not always possible to certify photos in real time. Often you have to work with images that already exist: photos sent by a client, historical pictures in an archive, shots taken before TrueScreen was adopted.
In these situations, you can still certify existing photos via import. You log into the TrueScreen platform, select the library or file import function, upload the photos already present on your device or in a corporate folder, and start the certification process. The platform analyzes the available metadata, performs integrity checks and generates a report.
Certifying photos in real time allows you to control the acquisition process from the very beginning; certifying photos ex post, through import, works on the data already available and adds a layer of forensic analysis and documentation. In both cases, however, you are bringing your images into a method that makes them clearer and more defensible.
TrueScreen’s methodology for photo certification
TrueScreen is built with a forensic by design approach: every phase of the photo’s lifecycle – acquisition, verification, certification, archiving – is designed to comply with recognized best practices for managing digital evidence.
Photo certification with TrueScreen relies on several key pillars. First, the use of a forensic methodology inspired by international standards such as ISO/IEC 27037, which define criteria for identifying, collecting, acquiring and preserving digital evidence. Second, the creation of true digital provenance for the image, clearly tracing the technical history of the photo. Third, the generation of a technical certification report that contains the certified photo (or unique references to it), contextual metadata (date/time, device, location, technical parameters), cryptographic hashes and other evidence, together with information on the checks performed.
This report is not intended only for the platform user, but especially for those who will later have to assess the evidence: judges, experts, consultants, counterparties. The goal is to make the process readable and verifiable, without exposing unnecessary technical detail, but without hiding the forensic substance of the method.
The probative value of photo certification
From a legal perspective, each jurisdiction has its own rules and practices on the validity of digital evidence. As a general principle, however, a photo certified using a structured forensic method is harder to challenge in terms of integrity and authenticity, makes the reconstruction of events clearer by anchoring the image to a precise technical context, and helps judges, arbitrators or internal bodies evaluate the visual content with greater confidence.
TrueScreen is designed to provide photo certifications with internationally recognized legal value, in the sense that it adopts a methodology consistent with international standards and best practices on digital evidence and regulatory compliance. This does not mean that photo certification automatically guarantees admissibility in every court worldwide, but that it provides strong methodological support to the evidential strength of the image, depending on the jurisdiction and specific case.
For those who collect photos – adjusters, inspectors, technicians, HR, auditors – this also translates into greater professional protection: you can demonstrate that you followed a recognized method, rather than having simply “done your best” informally.
Practical examples of photo certification with TrueScreen
In an insurance claim, an adjuster arrives on site and finds a damaged vehicle. In the traditional model, they take a few photos with their personal smartphone and send them by email or messaging to the company. If, months later, the other party disputes the extent of the damage or the identity of the vehicle, it is difficult to reconstruct the history of those images. With TrueScreen’s photo certification, by contrast, images are captured directly in the certified flow: each shot is tied to time, location and device, with integrity checks. In the event of a dispute, the adjuster does not just show the photo, but the certification as well.
In an HSE or quality inspection, a technician documents a non-compliance on site. If photos remain simple files, anyone might question whether they were really taken on that day, in those conditions. Certifying photos with TrueScreen means being able to prove, even after a long time, that the images match what was actually observed during that inspection.
In an HR or internal dispute context, a photo may support a report of misconduct, a risk situation or an inadequate working environment. Here the sensitivity is even greater, because people, reputations and careers are involved. Photo certification helps treat these images with the seriousness of proper evidence, rather than as a simple “attachment”.
How to start using photo certification in your processes
Introducing photo certification does not mean overturning the way you work, but rather making what you already do more robust.
Many organizations start with a pilot team: for example, adjusters in a certain region, inspectors for a particular type of plant, or the HSE department in a production site. They define when it is mandatory to certify photos (for instance, for all claims above a certain threshold or for specific types of inspections) and integrate TrueScreen into operational workflows.
Over time, photo certification can be extended to other processes and combined with certification of videos, documents, emails, chats and web pages. In this way, images are no longer an isolated element but part of a consistent ecosystem of certified digital evidence, applying the same logic throughout the organization.
FAQ on how to certify photos forensically
Why is it important to certify photos instead of just taking them?
Because a digital photo is easy to modify, duplicate or take out of context. Today, with editing tools and generative AI, it is possible to create realistic images or alter real photos in a matter of seconds. Simply taking a photo means asking whoever will assess it to trust it “by default”. Certifying photos, instead, ties the image to a forensic process that protects its integrity, authenticity, context and trusted timestamp, making it a much more credible piece of evidence.
How can I certify photos with TrueScreen in practice?
To certify photos with TrueScreen you can follow two paths: real-time capture or import of existing images. In the first case, you open the app or portal, choose the photo function and take pictures directly within the TrueScreen flow, which collects metadata, applies integrity checks and generates a report. In the second case, you upload photos from your gallery or a corporate archive, and let the platform analyze the available data and produce a forensic certification, even though it is working on already existing images.
Does certifying photos with TrueScreen give images probative value?
Certifying photos with TrueScreen does not guarantee automatic admissibility in every court, but it anchors images to a recognized forensic methodology aligned with standards such as ISO/IEC 27037. This can significantly strengthen the probative value of photos: it reduces disputes over integrity and authenticity, clarifies the reconstruction of events and helps judges, experts and counterparties assess the images with greater confidence, according to the rules of the relevant jurisdiction.
Can I certify photos that have already been taken, or do I need to certify photos only in real time?
You can do both. Certifying photos in real time is the ideal option, because it controls the entire acquisition process from the start. However, TrueScreen also allows you to certify already taken photos through library or archive import. In this scenario, the platform works with the available metadata and characteristics, runs integrity checks and still produces a technical report that makes the images more readable and defensible than simple files “orphaned” of context.
In which situations is it particularly useful to certify photos (claims, audits, HR, etc.)?
Certifying photos is useful whenever an image can make the difference in a decision or dispute. Typical examples include insurance claims, HSE and quality inspections, technical site visits, checks in real estate or industrial contexts, HR-related reports, documentation of non-compliance or risk situations. In all these cases, certifying photos with TrueScreen helps you turn a potentially challengeable snapshot into structured digital evidence, more solid and easier to defend.
