Taking photos after an accident and while still at the scene of an accident is one of the best steps you can take to bolster the strength of your personal injury case.

You should take photographs after any accident, including motor vehicle, construction, or slip, trip-and-fall accidents.

Tips for helping you make this photo evidence as useful as possible:

Turn On Date Stamping

Many phones automatically date-stamp their photos, but some don’t. You want your photos date and time-stamped to strengthen their validity as evidence. Don’t give the defense any room to challenge them. Double-check your settings, then begin.

Start With the Big Picture

Start by taking photos of the entire accident scene, including any damaged vehicles, property, and surrounding areas. These big-picture photos will help you establish the context of the accident and provide a visual reference for what happened.

Move on to Details

Try to capture the scene from multiple angles and heights to capture the most complete picture you can find.

Now you want to zoom in on specifics. Get photos of details such as:

For car accidents:

• Damage to all vehicles
• Debris on the ground
• Skid marks on the roadway
• Location of the vehicles after the collision
• The general area and traffic controls
• The interior of the car (if relevant)
• Vehicle license plates
• The other driver’s insurance information

For slip and fall accidents

• Close ups of the defect on the sidewalk, street or stairs
• The general area to show an address and location of the defect in context

Document Your Own Injuries

Taking photos of your injuries can be very important and useful. There’s no harm in showing just how bad the initial damage is. Your medical records will work with this evidence to show a complete picture of the harm that you suffered.

If you are hospitalized and confined to a bed, if you have a cast or other hardware, or tubes attached to your body, a picture is truly worth a thousand words and even more in dollars.

There are few events more stressful than a major, catastrophic accident. You should involve an experienced personal injury lawyer as quickly as possible to bring your case to its best possible conclusion.