FORENSIC PHOTOGRAPHY

BY:
PROF. RENOR NARCA APELA, MAEd, MSCJ, CSP
Historical Background
• Forensic science holds the branch of forensic photography which encompasses documenting both
suspected and convicted criminals, and also the crime scenes, victims, and other evidence needed to
make a conviction. Although photography was widely acknowledged as the most accurate way to
depict and document people and objects, it was not until key developments in the late 19th century
that it came to be widely accepted as a forensic means of identification.
• Forensic photography resulted from the modernization of criminal justice systems and the power of
photographic realism. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, these two developments were
significant to both forensic photography and police work in general. They can be attributed to a desire
for accuracy. First, government bureaucracies became more professionalized and thus collected
much more data about their citizens. Then, criminal justice systems began incorporating science into
the procedures of police and judiciaries. The main reason, however, for the acceptance of police
photography, is a conventional one. Other than its growing popularity, the widespread notion of
photography was the prominent belief in the realism of the medium
• The earliest evidence of photographic documentation of prison inmates dates back to 1843–
1844 in Belgium and 1851 in Denmark. This, however, was solely experimental and was yet to be
ruled by technical or legal regulations. The shots ranged from mug shot resemblances, to
prisoners in their cells; and the purpose of them also varied from documentation to
experimentation. There was no training required and pictures were often taken by amateurs,
commercial photographers, and even policemen or prison officials.
• By the 1870s, the practice had spread to many countries, though limited to larger cities.
Professional photographers would then be employed to take posed portraits of the criminals.
This was early evidence that led to the standard mug shot known today and was unlike any
previously known portraiture. Though there was no set standard yet, there was rarely creativity
employed with lighting or angle. This was not like photographing portraits of families or children.
These were documenting criminals. It was one of the first times people saw portraiture being
used for something other than art. Though these were slowly adapted to police regulations,
photographing criminals and suspects was widespread until the latter part of the 19th century,
when the process of having one's picture taken and archived was limited to individuals convicted
of serious offenses. This was, of course, by discretion of the police.
• As the number of criminals climbed, so too did the number of photographs. Organizing and
storing the archives became a problem. Collections called, "Rogues Galleries" classified criminals
according to types of offenses. The earliest evidence of these galleries was found in Birmingham,
England in the 1850s. Shortly after this were initial attempts at standardizing the photographs.
Alphonse Bertillon
• French photographer, Alphonse Bertillon was the first to realize that photographs were futile for
identification if they were not standardized by using the same lighting, scale and angles.[2] He
wanted to replace traditional photographic documentation of criminals with a system that would
guarantee reliable identification. He suggested anthropological studies of profiles and full-face
shots to identify criminals. He published La Photographie Judiciaire (1890), which contained rules
for a scientifically exact form of identification photography. He stated that the subjects should be
well lit, photographed full face and also in profile, with the ear visible. Bertillon maintained that
the precepts of commercial portraits should be forgotten in this type of photography. By the turn
of the century, both his measurement system and photographic rules had been accepted and
introduced in almost all states. Thus, Bertillon is credited with the invention of the mug shot.
• Some people believe that Bertillon's methods were influenced by crude Darwinian ideas and
attempted to confirm assumptions that criminals were physically distinguishable from law-abiding
citizens. It is speculated in the article, "Most Wanted Photography," that it is from this system that
many of the stereotype looks (skin color, eye color, hair color, body type and more) of criminals in
movies, books and comics were founded.[3] Although the measurement system was soon
replaced by fingerprinting, the method of standardized photographs survived.
• Photographic processes have been used since the emergence of Forensic Sciences, however,
photography, whether analogue or digital, has occasionally been the subject of questioning.
Despite being a research resource in certain cases questionable, photography when used
according to scientific criteria, is an advantageous documentary resource. It allows immediate
recognition of individuals and diverse subjects with better cost-benefit. Learn more about the
genesis of Forensic Photography by accessing the article "Forensic Photography - historical
aspects. Urgency for a new focus in Brazil". Article published in Revista Brasileira de Criminalística
has almost 10,000 accesses.
Crime photography
• On the other side of the spectrum of forensic photography, is the crime photography that
involves documenting the scene of the crime, rather than the criminal. Though this type of
forensic photography was also created for the purpose of documenting, identifying and
convicting, it allows more room for creative interpretation and variance of style. It includes taking
pictures of the victim (scars, wounds, birthmarks, etc.) for the purpose of identification or
conviction; and pictures of the scene (placement of objects, position of body, photos of evidence
and fingerprints). The development of this type of forensic photography is responsible for radical
changes in the field, including public involvement (crime photos appearing in the newspaper) and
new interpretations and purposes of the field.
Bertillon was also the first to methodically photograph and document crime scenes. He did this both at
ground level and overhead, which he called "God's-eye-view." While his mug shots encourage people to
find differences (from themselves) in physical characteristics of criminals, his crime scene photographs
revealed similarities to the public. This made people question, when looking in a newspaper at pictures
of a murder that took place in a home that resembles their own, "could this happen to me?"[5] For the
first time, people other than criminologists, police or forensic photographers were seeing the effects of
crime through forensic photography.

Weegee
Among the more famous, and arguably the most famous crime photographer, is Arthur Fellig, better
known as "Weegee". He was known for routinely arriving at crime scenes before other reporters, or
often even before the police, The nickname is speculated to come from an alternate spelling of the word
"Ouija", implying that Fellig had a supernatural force telling where the action was going to occur. His first
exhibition was a solo exhibition, entitled, "Weegee: Murder is My Business" and showed in 1941 at the
Photo League in New York. The Museum of Modern Art purchased five of his photos and showed them in
an exhibit called "Action Photography." Forensic photography had now transcended mere
documentation. It was considered an art. Weegee did not consider his photos art, but many perceived
them that way. He is a prime example of the different purposes of forensic photography. His photographs
were intended as documentation and were viewed that way in the paper by many people, but were
shown in museums and seen as art by many others. His first book was published in 1945 and was titled,
Naked City
• The First Cameras
• The basic concept of photography has been around since about the 5th century B.C.E. It wasn't
until an Iraqi scientist developed something called the camera obscura in the 11th century that
the art was born.
• Even then, the camera did not actually record images, it simply projected them onto another
surface. The images were also upside down, though they could be traced to create accurate
drawings of real objects such as buildings.
• The first camera obscura used a pinhole in a tent to project an image from outside the tent into
the darkened area. It was not until the 17th century that the camera obscura became small
enough to be portable. Basic lenses to focus the light were also introduced around this time.
The First Permanent Images
Photography, as we know it today, began in the late 1830s in France. Joseph Nicéphore Niépce used
a portable camera obscura to expose a pewter plate coated with bitumen to light. This is the first
recorded image that did not fade quickly.
Niépce's success led to a number of other experiments and photography progressed very rapidly.
Daguerreotypes, emulsion plates, and wet plates were developed almost simultaneously in the mid-
to late-1800s.
With each type of emulsion, photographers experimented with different chemicals and techniques.
The following are the three that were instrumental in the development of modern photography.
 Daguerreotype
• Niépce's experiment led to a collaboration with Louis Daguerre. The result was the creation of the
daguerreotype, a forerunner of modern film.
• A copper plate was coated with silver and exposed to iodine vapor before it was exposed to light.
• To create the image on the plate, the early daguerreotypes had to be exposed to light for up to 15
minutes.
• The daguerreotype was very popular until it was replaced in the late 1850s by emulsion plates.
• Emulsion Plates
• Emulsion plates, or wet plates, were less expensive than daguerreotypes and required only two or
three seconds of exposure time. This made them much more suited to portrait photographs, which
was the most common use of photography at the time. Many photographs from the Civil War were
produced on wet plates.
• These wet plates used an emulsion process called the Collodion process, rather than a simple coating
on the image plate. It was during this time that bellows were added to cameras to help with focusing.
• Two common types of emulsion plates were the ambrotype and the tintype. Ambrotypes used a glass
plate instead of the copper plate of the daguerreotypes. Tintypes used a tin plate. While these plates
were much more sensitive to light, they had to be developed quickly. Photographers needed to have
chemistry on hand and many traveled in wagons that doubled as a darkroom.
• Dry Plates
• In the 1870s, photography took another huge leap forward. Richard Maddox improved on a previous
invention to make dry gelatine plates that were nearly equal to wet plates in speed and quality.
• These dry plates could be stored rather than made as needed. This allowed photographers much
more freedom in taking photographs. The process also allowed for smaller cameras that could be
hand-held. As exposure times decreased, the first camera with a mechanical shutter was developed.
Cameras for Everyone
Photography was only for professionals and the very rich until George Eastman started a company
called Kodak in the 1880s.

Eastman created a flexible roll film that did not require constantly changing the solid plates. This
allowed him to develop a self-contained box camera that held 100 film exposures. The camera had a
small single lens with no focusing adjustment.

The consumer would take pictures and send the camera back to the factory for the film to be
developed and prints made, much like modern disposable cameras. This was the first camera
inexpensive enough for the average person to afford.

The film was still large in comparison to today's 35mm film. It was not until the late 1940s that 35mm
film became cheap enough for the majority of consumers to use.

Vintage camera and films, Nancy, France

Etienne Jeanneret / Getty Images
The Horrors of War
• The Horrors of War
• Around 1930, Henri-Cartier Bresson and other photographers began to use small 35mm cameras to capture
images of life as it occurred rather than staged portraits. When World War II started in 1939, many
photojournalists adopted this style.

• The posed portraits of World War I soldiers gave way to graphic images of war and its aftermath. Images such as
Joel Rosenthal's photograph, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima brought the reality of war home and helped galvanize
the American people like never before. This style of capturing decisive moments shaped the face of
photography forever.

• The Wonder of Instant Images

• At the same time that 35mm cameras were becoming popular, Polaroid introduced the Model 95. Model 95
used a secret chemical process to develop film inside the camera in less than a minute.

• This new camera was fairly expensive but the novelty of instant images caught the public's attention. By the
mid-1960s, Polaroid had many models on the market and the price had dropped so that even more people
could afford it.

• In 2008, Polaroid stopped making their famous instant film and took their secrets with them. Many groups such
as The Impossible Project and Lomography have tried to revive instant film with limited success. As of 2018, it
remains difficult to replicate the quality that was found in a Polaroid.
• Advanced Image Control
• While the French introduced the permanent image, the Japanese
brought easier image control to the photographer.

• In the 1950s, Asahi (which later became Pentax) introduced the

Asahiflex and Nikon introduced its Nikon F camera. These were both
SLR-type cameras and the Nikon F allowed for interchangeable lenses
and other accessories.

• For the next 30 years, SLR-style cameras remained the camera of

choice. Many improvements were introduced to both the cameras
and the film itself.
• Introducing Smart Cameras
• In the late 1970s and early 1980s, compact cameras that were
capable of making image control decisions on their own were
introduced. These "point and shoot" cameras calculated shutter
speed, aperture, and focus, leaving photographers free to concentrate
on composition.

• The automatic cameras became immensely popular with casual

photographers. Professionals and serious amateurs continued to
prefer to make their own adjustments and enjoyed the image control
available with SLR cameras.
• The Digital Age
• In the 1980s and 1990s, numerous manufacturers worked on cameras
that stored images electronically. The first of these were point-and-
shoot cameras that used digital media instead of film.

• By 1991, Kodak had produced the first digital camera that was
advanced enough to be used successfully by professionals. Other
manufacturers quickly followed and today Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and
other manufacturers offer advanced digital SLR (DSLR) cameras.

• Even the most basic point-and-shoot camera now takes higher quality
images than Niépce’s pewter plate, and smartphones can easily pull
off a high-quality printed photograph.
Photography is an invaluable aid to modern day scientific crime detection and investigation
as well as crime prevention. Perhaps it could be stated that without photography our law
enforcement officer in the so-called modern day scientific crime detection would still be
lagging a hundred years.
A good photograph of the scene is a permanent record, which is always available,
especially in court presentation. In court proceedings, judges, prosecutors and defense
lawyers have generally never visited the scene of the crime. Therefore, photographers
should bear in mind to obtain a normal, sharp and free of distortion photograph. As a
general rule, take many photograph of the crime scene and select the best.
A photograph of the crime scene is a factual reproduction and accurate record of the
crime scene because it captures TIME, SPACE AND EVENT. A photograph is capable of
catching and preserving the:
SPACE - the WHERE of the crime (Locus Criminis)
TIME – the WHEN of the crime
EVENT – the WHAT of the crime – what is the nature or character of the crime?
 Uses of photography in police work
1. Identification files- Criminals missing persons, lost property, licenses, anonymous letters, bad
checks, laundry marks, and civilian of personal fingerprint IF In the case of atomic attack or a
catastrophe such as an airplane crash, the fingerprints from a civilian file are proving helpful in
making positive identification
2. Communication and microfilm files- Investigative report files, Accident files transitions of photos
(Wire Photo) Photographic supplements to reports. With modern day electro photography
machines accident reports can be made in seconds and sold to insurance adjusters for nominal
fees. An excellent source of revenue for department is the sale of photographs of traffic
accidents to insurance companies and lawyers.
3. Evidence- Crime scenes, traffic accidents, homicides suicides, fires, objects of evidence, latent
fingerprint traces. Evidence can be improved by contrast control, by magnification and by visible
radiation.
4. Offender detection – Surveillance, burglar traps, confession, reenactment of crimes intoxicated
driver test. One of the newest applications of police photography is to record on motion picture
film arrests in which the suspect offers resistance. The practice has been instituted by at least
one metropolitan law enforcement agency to counter charges of police brutality.
5. Court exhibits- Demonstration enlargements, individual photos, projection slides,
motion pictures.
6. Reproduction or Copying – Questionable checks and documents, evidential
papers, photographs, official records and notices.
7. Personnel training- Photographs and films relating police tactics, investigation
techniques, mob control, and catastrophe situations.
8. Crime and Fire prevention – Hazard lectures, security clearance, detector devices,
photos of hazardous fire, conditions made when fire prevention inspection are made.
9. Public relations – Films pertaining to safety programs, juvenile delinquency, traffic
education, public cooperation, and civil defense.
 Four primary ways of using photography in Police Work:
1. As means of identification.
2. As a method of discovering, recording and preserving evidence.
3. As a way to present, in the courtroom, an impression of the pertinent elements of
a crime.
4. As a training and public relations medium for police programs.
PHOTOGRAPHY: ITS PRINCIPLE
In photography, the light writes when it strikes minute crystals of light
sensitive surfaces (films and photographic papers), a mechanical device
(camera) and chemical processing (film development and printing). As a
process, photography is the method of using light to produce identical
image of an object that can be preserved permanently by employing:
a. camera: camera use to regulate, absorb and filter light
b. film and any sensitized material to record light
Photograph is a mechanical result of photography. To produce a
photograph, light is needed aside from sensitized material (films and
photographic papers). Light radiated or reflected by the subject must
reach the sensitized material while all other lights must be excluded.
The exclusion of all other lights is achieved by placing the sensitized
material inside a light tight box. The light maybe visible or invisible.
• The effect of light on the sensitized material is not visible in the formation of
images of objects. The effect could be made visible with the aid of chemical
processing of the exposed sensitized material called development.
• Photography is the production of visible images by using the action of light on
a sensitized material. The word photography was derived from two Greek terms
PHOTO which means light and GRAPHY which means to write. Thus, literally,
photography means to draw with light.
• PHOTOGRAPHIC RAYS 
What is light?
Many as good while darkness the opposite as bad have associated light.
In case of anxiety, fright, severe mental disorders and depression many
experienced dream like apparitions. In states of religious ecstasy, visions and
hallucinations occur which can be attributed to the high sensitivity of the retina.
Many frequently perceived light impressions, which cannot be attributed to
external stimuli of an altogether different kind, such as pressure, impact and
functional disturbances in our body and nervous system.
Everyone also knows light. It excites the retina of the eye. Light makes
things visible. There is no exaggeration to say that man cannot live without
light. Same things are true in photography, because light is needed to produce
a photograph.
LIGHT AND THE EYE
Our eyes are sensitive to light, which give us information about the shapes,
colors and movements of objects around us. Light is a form of electromagnetic
radiation and we know it travels in the form of waves. The complete range of
electromagnetic spectrum and our eyes are capable of seeing only part of the
spectrum. We can see a large part of the wavelengths emitted by the sun, that is
white light but the sun also emits other waves, which we cannot see.
Infra red is a wavelength emitted by the sun which cannot be seen, though we
can feel it in our bodies as warmth or heat. Ultra violet is another form of light we
cannot see, but we know about it because it tans our skin in summer.
HOW LIGHT BEHAVES

Light moves in straight lines from its source, but it can be bent and scattered by objects placed in its path. We see rays
of sunlight streaming through a window on a sunny day because some of the light is scattered by dust particles in the air. We
can only see a ray of light when it strikes the eye directly. Then it forms an image of the object from which it has come, either
the light source itself, or something from which it has been reflected, such as a motorcar. Non-luminous objects are one,
which are only visible when they reflect the light from a light source. In a totally dark room, you would not be able to see a
desk, but you would be able to see the hands of a luminous clock. If the totally black room had no dust particles floating
around it, you would not able to see the beam of light, but only the light source itself and any object that reflects the light.

SPEED OF LIGHT

Even an electric light appears to glow immediately it is switched on, a small but definite time lag occurs between the light
coming on and the electromagnetic radiation entering our eyes. In a room, this time lag is too short to be noticeable, but for
distant objects like stars, the lag is thousand of years. Even light from the moon, which is relatively close to earth, experiences
a time lag of one second. The speed of light, measured in a vacuum is 299, 792.5 km/sec (approximately 186,281 miles/sec /
186,000).
• BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT

INTERFERENCE - Any phenomenon having a periodic disturbance of some sort and travels outward
from a source is called a wave. To understand how energy can travels in waves, think of a wooden log
floating in the ocean. Light maybe visualized as such as the high points are called crest while the low
points are called troughs. The distance between two successive crest and troughs is called a
wavelength.
When two light beams cross, they may interfere in such a way that the resultant intensity pattern is
affected. When two waves meet or interfere, they reinforce one another (crest form a higher crest than
either) at some points and annul one another (crest of one wave interfere with the trough of the other) at
other points.
• The crest of one wave meets the trough of another wave. The phenomenon is called annulment of
waves. The British physicist Thomas Young in the experiment illustrated first demonstrated such an
interference pattern. Light that had passed through one pinhole illuminated an opaque surface that
contained two pinholes. The light that passed through the two pinholes formed a pattern of alternately
bright and dark circular fringes on a screen. Wavelets are drawn in the illustration to show that at points
such as A, C, and E (intersection of solid line with solid line) the waves from the two pinholes arrive in
phase and combine to increase the intensity. At other points, such as B and D (intersection of solid line
with dashed line), the waves are 180° out of phase and cancel each other.
•