{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]],"date-time":"2026-08-11T16:37:07Z","timestamp":1786466227779,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]],"date-time":"2026-08-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786406400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Soon after the invention of photography, doctors began experimenting with photographs as a documentation tool. The first known medical photographs were produced in the 1840s and included photographs of skin diseases and facial deformities. Dermatology was one of the first specialties to use photographs, and photography was acknowledged as more objective evidence than the drawings and illustrations used earlier. Photographs have since become an essential part of modern dermatology and are an integrated part of daily clinical practice and patient care. Tips, techniques, and guides to improve clarity, lighting, positioning, exposure, background, angles, and scale are warranted. Three basic elements are essential for high-quality medical photography: resolution, lighting, and focus. Furthermore, three key principles\u2014background, perspective, and angles\u2014are essential for accurately documenting a clinical condition and effectively conveying details about a lesion\u2019s location, size, color, texture, and depth. Using an even, neutral, non-reflecting, monochrome background, positioning the camera perpendicularly at the same level as the skin lesion, and taking multiple shots from different angles are recommended. This study provides a review of good techniques for capturing medical photographs of dermatological diseases for diagnostic use and describes common pitfalls in dermatological photography.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1854982","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]],"date-time":"2026-08-11T15:38:41Z","timestamp":1786462721000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Photography in dermatology"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Zarqa","family":"Ali","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermato-Venereology and Wound Healing Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital","place":["Bispebjerg, Denmark"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Simon Francis","family":"Thomsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermato-Venereology and Wound Healing Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital","place":["Bispebjerg, Denmark"]},{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen","place":["Copenhagen, Denmark"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1677.2","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.320.7250.1677\/a","article-title":"The origin of captured images","volume":"320","author":"Banerjee","year":"2000","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"86","DOI":"10.1016\/j.endeavour.2008.07.002","article-title":"Stopping time: Henry fox Talbot and the origins of freeze-frame photography","volume":"32","author":"Ramalingam","year":"2008","journal-title":"Endeavour"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.3163\/1536-5050.104.1.011","article-title":"Evolution of biomedical communication as reflected by the National Library of medicine","volume":"104","author":"Crawford","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Med Libr Assoc"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.1086\/689587","article-title":"Impact of new camera technologies on discoveries in cell biology","volume":"231","author":"Stuurman","year":"2016","journal-title":"Biol Bull"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"688","DOI":"10.1136\/pgmj.2006.044990","article-title":"Digital photography","volume":"82","author":"Windsor","year":"2006","journal-title":"Postgrad Med J"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"654474","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.654474","article-title":"Hunters and gatherers of pictures: why photography has become a human universal","volume":"12","author":"Kislinger","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front Psychol"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"760","DOI":"10.1007\/s00105-003-0541-2","article-title":"Possibilities and limits of early photography in dermatology. 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