HISTORY of

Forensic Photography

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Note that although the historical accounts enumerated here are
sourced from several photography and forensic science books,
they are mostly based on a western point of view. Hence, major
forensic events, milestones and court citations will describe the
European or American experience. Note further that, as observed
by Robert C. Sanders in his chapter on the history of forensic
imaging in Crime Scene Photography, there are several
conflicting dates related to some photographic inventions. He
attributes these conflicts to the possibility of
CONFLICTS
1. Mistake by other authors,
2. Using the date the research started,
3. Using the date the research first produced
successful results,
4. Using the date the invention was announced, or
5. Using the date the invention was patented
Pre-Photographic History

The early cave paintings of the Upper Paleolithic period

can be considered as the earliest creation of pictorial
recording. Such can be traced as far back as about
35,000 years ago. These “pictures could possibly be a
record of actual hunting of the time, or they could be
religious petitions for a bountiful hunting”
The history of imaging began with the camera obscura, the
first pinhole camera. Although there may be a conflict among
authors as to who is the first to describe the camera obscura,
Robert C. Sanders considers that it is most likely the Arab
scholar Hassan bin al Huithum who wrote about it in 1038.

Two others who are credited by some authors as the first to

describe the camera obscura are Roger Bacon in 1267 and
Leonardo da Vinci in 1490
The evolution of the camera obscura includes the addition of lens
in 1550 by Girolamo Cardano, the further addition of lenses and
curved mirrors to produce an upright image in 1558 by Giovanni
Battista della Porta, and the invention of a diaphragm in 1568 by
Daniele Barbaro.

Jean Hellot may have been the first one to use the word
“photography,” which means writing with light. He was reported
to have used a photographic process to make secret writings
visible by exposure to light in 1737. In 1795, Thomas Wedgwood
made the first known attempt to use a photographic process to take
a photograph with a camera obscura.
The editors of the Focal Encyclopedia of Photography define
photography as beginning when the recording of images “could-
be- made-permanent.”

1200s Simple glass lenses were introduced.

1472 Leonardo da Vinci discovered the multicolored nature of

white light.

1676 J.C. Sturm invented a portable camera obscura with reflex

mirror and focusing lens.
1704 Sir Isaac Newton published Opticks in which he presented his
discoveries in optics and elaborated on his corpuscular theory of light.

1725 J.H. Schulze experimented on light sensitivity of silver salts, contact

images (from stencils) on liquid mixtures of chalk and silver nitrate in a
bottle.

1758 Jotun Dulland invented the achromatic lens.

1777 G.C. Lichtenberg developed electrostatic discharge patterns with

dry powder.
1777 Sir John F.W. Herschel discovered infrared radiation. He used a
beam splitter to split out a white light source into individual colors when
he placed a thermometer next to the red end where there was no visible
color of light.

1800 T. Wedgwood and H. Davy discovered that contact copying of

silhouettes, leaves, etc., on leather is sensitized with silver nitrate.

1800 J.W. Ritter discovered the blackening of silver chloride by

ultraviolet radiation.

1801 Sir David Brewster invented the optical system of the future parlor
stereoscope.
1815-1820 Sir David Brewster invented the optical system of the future
parlor stereoscope.

1816 J. Nicéphore Niépce discovered that camera photographs on paper

are sensitized with silver chloride.

1819 Sir John F.W. Herschel discovered thiosulfates and the solution of
silver halides by “hypo.”

1822-1825 J. Nicéphore Niepce discovered copying of engravings on

glass, zinc, and pewter sensitized with bitumen to further attempts at direct
photography.
Advances in Photographic Technology

The first half of the nineteenth century highlights several

attempts to perfect photography through the invention of
different processes and techniques.

In 1826, Joseph Niépce successfully made the first known

photograph, a reproduction of a 17th century Dutch
engraving showing a man leading a horse. For this reason,
he has been credited as being the inventor of photography.
In 1839, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre invented the
daguerreotype, the first commercially successful photographic
process. It used a silver nitrite light-sensitive emulsion that
was developed with mercury vapor and fixed with a strong salt
solution to produce a positive photographic image. The latent
image and use of silver combined with iodine (silver iodide)
that were introduced by Daguerre became the basis of every
major camera process of the 19th century until the introduction
of gelatin bromide emulsions used in the manufacture of dry
plates and developing-out papers.
In 1839, William Henry Fox Talbot invented the calotype, a silver chloride-
coated light-sensitive paper that was fixed with strong salt solution. The
calotype (from the Greek kalos, meaning “beautiful”) was later patented by
Talbot in 1841.

In 1844, he improved the calotype paper negative process using a gallic acid
and silver nitrate solution with a hypo fixer. This is the process that
eventually evolved into the photographic negative printing process that is in
use today (Peres, 2007).

In 1841, the Paris police department became the first agency to use
daguerreotype mug shots. By the late 1840s, the daguerreotype process was
being used commercially in every industrialized nation of the world.
Another milestone in the history of photography was the
discovery of the UV fluorescence by Sir George G. Stokes in
1852. This led to the formulation of the Stokes’ Law as the
fundamental theoretical basis of all fluorescent photography
currently used in law enforcement. It states that the wavelength
of the fluorescence is always longer than the wavelength of the
light that excited the fluorescence. The fluorescence will not be
as bright as the exciting light source.

Sanders identified other advances in the history of photography,

as follows (Sanders, 2010):
1858 French photographer and balloonist Gaspar Felix Tournachon took the
first known aerial photograph of the French village of Petit-Becetre.

1861 Maxwell and Sutton were able to successfully make color separation
negatives, which, when projected through the corresponding red, green, or
violet filter to which they were photographed through, resulted in a color
image of the object photographed.

1861 First recorded use of RGB color separation negatives to reproduce a

color image by Ralph Evans who used the fluorescent properties of the red
dye in the object. Photographed.
1873 Dr. Hermann Wilhelm Vogel discovered dye-sensitizing
technology that extended the colar sensitivity of black-and- white films
into the red region of the visible light spectrum, resulting in the
development of photographic film emulsion and the modern black-and-
white panchromatic film.

As photographic technology advanced up to the end of the nineteenth

century, equipment and materials had become somewhat easier to
handle, and photography had spread all around the world and was being
put to use for artistic purposes and to document people, places and
things.
Beginnings of Forensic Imaging
The roots of police photography could perhaps be traced to 1851 when
French photographer, Louis Dodero, originated the idea of using
photographs to establish identity or rights. A year later, Switzerland began
to photograph vagrants and beggars, while France started to circulate its
first photographic “wanted” posters.

Sanders (2010) traces the beginning of forensic image analysis in 1851 with
the scientific examination of a faked color daguerreotype. By 1859, the
United States Supreme Court ruled on the admissibility of photographs used
as evidence.
In 1860, identification photography was used in England and the
USA as photographic records of those who were arrested and
imprisoned.
Crime scene photography dates back to 1867 when
advertisements of crime scene cameras began to appear. These
cameras promised to replace the crime scene sketches of the time.
Fake ghost photographs used to commit fraud started to appear
as early as the 1860s. The criminals would also fake spirit
photographs by using a double exposure either in the camera or the
dark room to create photos of the victims with these “spirits.”
During the 1870s photographic evidence continued to become
admissible in United States courts. Photographs were affirmed
as an established means of reproducing a correct likeness of a
person in 1874; the use of traffic accident photographs were
affirmed to show the mad conditions that were a factor in the
traffic accident in 1875; and tintype photographs of injuries
were admitted in 1879.

Alphonse M. Bertillon invented many techniques that

contributed the field of criminology. one of which is the
invention of the mug shot
Bertillon developed a system of identification that involved the recording of
eleven anthropometric measurements, supplemented with a physical
description of the body, particularly the features of the face and the head.
Bertillon’s signaletic system was officially accepted by the Paris police in
1883 and became widely adopted across Europe, Canada, and the United
States. However, the system was not entirely successful as a dominant
mode of criminal identification, and was eventually replaced by
fingerprinting (Finn, 2009).

In 1887, banks began using cameras to photograph persons attempting to

break into them. In 1893, a bank robbery suspect in New York City was
identified using such a photograph (Sanders, 2010).
Forensic Imaging in the Twentieth Century
The turn of the twentieth century saw many important
developments in photographic technology and forensic
photography, as summarized below (Sanders, 2010).

1904 The Lumiere brothers patented the autochrome color

photography plates that were put into production in 1907.
1907 In Colorado, USA, intoxicated persons were being
photographed phot by the police department; in Massachusetts, the
use of photographic speed recorders to detect speeders were
approved.

1910 Kodak dominated the amateur market with some

photographic techniques still used today.

1912 Slegrist and Fischer produced color images by chernically

forming dyes in the emulsion layer during development
1915 In Chicago, the International Association for Identification
was formed. It has evolved into the oldest and largest forensic
science organization in the world

1916 In Ohio, USA, a motion picture was ruled as inadmissible

imaging evidence because it did not show the details clearly
enough to be useful. This court ruling highlights that photographs
should be relevant, material, a fair and accurate representation,
and not overly prejudicial to be admissible as evidence in court.
1928. In Ohio, USA, an appellant court ruled that photographs of
X-rays were not admissible in place of the X-rays because the
photographs did not show some significant details that were visible
in the original X-rays.

1930 The flash bulb was invented, making it possible for a

portable light source to enable the taking of many evidence
photographs.
1934 In New Hampshire, USA, the ultraviolet photograph of
footprints in blood were upheld as admissible in court. Several other
states defined what is considered as a fair and accurate photographic
representation of photographs to be admitted as evidence in court.

1938 In the United States, the microfilm of a document was admitted

in place of the document, and the admissibility of a color photograph:
was upheld.

1938 Kodak introduced the Super-Six-20 camera, which featured an

automatic exposure capability.
1941 Kodak introduced the Kodacolor color negative film.

1942 Kodak introduced the Ektachrome color slide film.

1947 Kodak introduced the Ektacolor color negative film.

1947 Edwin Land invented, the Polaroid Land Camera.

1942 The United States FBI Laboratory split its
photographic operations unit into a processing unit and a
special photographic unit that has evolved into the current
forensic audio, video, and image analysis unit.

1957 The videotape recorder was introduced.

1965 The Super 8mm movie equipment was introduced. It
became a hit with consumers until it was replaced with video
camcorders.

1965 Fully automatic electronic flash units became

available for still photography.
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