Overview:

In crime cases, the documentation of evidence is one of the most important stages of any
crime scene investigation. Besides others, photography is considered as one of the important
documentation techniques in the field of forensic science which can record the whole crime
scene area, exact conditions of the crime scene and the evidence present over there.

This course covers the historical development, principles and processes of photography in
relation to law enforcement and criminal justice. This includes the evolution of camera,
photographic process and personalities behind the development of modern photography, use of
forensic light and techniques and related laws and jurisprudence in photography.

General Objectives: After studying this module, you should be able to:
1. discuss the uses of photography;
2. explain the variation of photography as applied to criminal investigation;
3. identify the element of photography;
4. demonstrate the use various types of camera;
5. differentiate the features of digital photography from videography;
6. apply knowledge in preparation and presentation of photographic pieces
of evidence in solving criminal cases; and
7. apply the principles of photography in criminal investigator.
 Module 1:

Objectives: After studying this module 1, you should be able to

1. differentiate the difference of photography, police photography and forensic

photography.
2. discuss the importance of police photography used as personal identification.
3. trace the history of photography;
4. discuss the principles of photography; and
5.list the types of photography.

Lesson 1:
Introduction to Forensic Photography

What is Photography?

There are three (3) definition of the word PHOTOGRAPHY

1. Literal Definition:
* The word photography is a derivative of two Greek words Phos which means “light” and
Graphia meaning “write”.
* Therefore photography best translated to “write with light.”
2. Modern Definition
* Photography – is an art or science which deals with the reproduction of images
through the action of light, upon sensitized materials, with the aid of a camera and its
accessories, and the chemical processes involved therein.

3. Technical/Legal Definition:
* Modern photography may be defined as any means for the chemical, thermal, electrical
or electronic recording of the image of sciences, or objects formed by some type of radiant
energy, including gamma rays, X-rays, ultra-violet rays, visible light and infrared rays. This
definition is board enough to include not only the conventional methods of photograph but
almost any new process that may be developed.

Elements of Photography
1. Images
2. Sensitized materials
3. Light
4. Camera
5. Chemical

Police Photography is an art or science which deals with the study of the principle of
photography, the preparation of Photographic evidence, and its application to police work.
Objectives of Police Photography
1. To produce a pictorial record of everything pertaining to the crime
2. To help in keeping the police officer’s memory accurately as possible as to where he finds
things
3. To help in securing and obtaining confession disposition and information relating to the case

The uses of Photography in Police Work

1. Identification- This is the very first use of Photography in police work. Photographs are used
to identify criminals, missing person, lost or stolen property, licenses, anonymous letter checks,
laundry marks, and the civilian or personnel fingerprint identification files.

2. Communication and Micro Film Files -which includes report files, accident files,
transmission of photos, photographic supplement to reports with modern day electro-
photography machines.

3. Evidence- Photographs serve as evidence of the crime scene, traffic accidents, homicides,
suicide, fire, objects of evidence, latent fingerprints, evidential traces can frequently be
improving by control (lighting/film/paper filter), by magnification
(Photomicrography/Photomicrography), or invisible radiation (infra-red/ultra-violet/x-ray

4. Offender Detection-Photographs are used in surveillance, burglar traps, confessions, re-

enactment.

5. Court exhibits- through demonstration enlargement, individual photos, projection slides, or

motion pictures.

6. Reproduction or copying of questionable checks and documents evidential papers,

photographs, official records and notices.

*Note: Suicide note cannot be photograph in crime scene because of privacy.

7. Personnel Training- photographs and film relating to police tactics, investigation techniques,
mob control and catastrophe situation.

8. Crime and fire prevention hazard through lectures, security clearance detection devices,
photos of hazardous fire conditions made when prevention inspections are made.

9. film pertaining to safety programs juvenile delinquency traffic education, public cooperation
and civil defense.

In general, then, there are four primary ways of using photographs in police works

1. as a mean of identification
2. as a method of discovering, recording, and preserving evidence;
3. as away 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.
Forensic photography/Forensic Imaging/Crime Scene Photography

* The process of photographing crime scene or any other objects for court presentation.
* The art or science of photographically documenting a crime scene and evidence for laboratory
examination and analysis for purposes of court trial.

Importance of Forensic Photography

1. Small objects but of great importance in a crime committed may escape in the first phase of
examination by the investigator but maybe seen and recording on the photograph.
2. A good photograph of the crime scene is a permanent record which is always available
especially in court presentation o in court proceeding.
3. Used as an aid by the investigator to describe in court some of the details of the crime scene
they have investigated several months ago, the small details and exact locations of objects.
4. To assist the investigators inn using photographic equipment and techniques in their effort to
solve crime.
The Types of Photography

1. Photomacrography- photographing objects directly enlarge on the negative and magnified

from one to nine times.

2. Photomicrography- the art photographing minutes objects when magnified by means of a

microscope and enlarge from 10 times and up.

3. Infra-red photography- the art or process of photographing or recording unseen objects by

means of infra-red.

4. Ultra-violet photography- the art or process of photographing or recording unseen objects by

means of ultra-violet lights or filters. It involves two methods: Ultra-violet lamp and ultra-violet
filter.
5. Microphotography- a very small photograph as encountered in microfilming or with the use
of micro-film

6. X-ray- is the process of photographing and recording the internal structure of the body.

7. Astrophotography- it is a specialized type of photography that entails recording images as

astronomical objects and large areas of the night sky.

8. Flash photography- Applied to the technique whereby exposures are made with illumination
from one or more photographs

9. Mug Shot photography- it is usually use for personal identification which is the first use of
photography in police work.
10. Thermo photography- a kind of photo where we use laser beam radiation using laser beam
film. Example: The Night vision.

11. Aerial photography- A kind of photography applied for photo mapping

12 Underwater photography- photographing things underwater

13. Night photography- technique used to capture image at night.

14. Panoramic photography- it involves using specialized equipment or software that capture
images with elongated fields of view. it is something knows as wide format photography.

The Principles of Photography

What are needed to produce positive photograph?

1. A photograph is the mechanical and chemical result of photography.

2. To produce a photograph, light is needed aside from sensitized materials
3. Lights reflected or radiated by a subject must reach the sensitized materials while all other
light must be excluded.
4. The exclusion of all unwanted and unnecessary light is achieved by placing the sensitized
materials material aside a camera.
5. The amount of light on the sensitized material after exposure is not immediately visible to the
eyes
6. To make the formed image visible, it must undergo the developed process
7. The visual effect that result from the chemical processing is depended on the quantity and
quality of the exposing light.
8. More light will yield an opaque or black shade on the sensitized material after development
9. Too little light will produce a transparent or white shade
10. The varying shade of gray will finally form the complete image.

Take Note:

(Gray) Black and white and Dark – meaning over exposed

Light bright- meaning under exposed.

Brown- More Light- Bright - Over Exposed

Little Light-Dark- Underexposed

Lesson # 2

The personalities and dates of Photography

FABRICUS (1556)- while he was in search of gold in the mines of Germany, he discovered that
“Horn Silver” ore, a kind of semi-transparent compound of silver and chlorine was sensitive to
light. Adding common salt (sodium chloride) to the substance could be formed to a solution of
silver nitrate. The silver compound was made of white but turns black on exposure to the sun.
In 1834-1839-1840, William Henry Fox Talbot- created permanent (negative) images. He used
paper, soaked in silver chloride and fixed with salt solution. He also created positive images by
contact printing onto another sheet of paper.

William Henry Fox Talbot- invented the Calotype and known as the father of Modern
photography.

Calotype- is used paper with its surface fibers impregnated with light sensitive compounds.

Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre(1839)- went on to develop the daguerreotype process, the

first publicly announced and commercially viable photographic process. The daguerreotype
required only minutes of exposure in the camera, and produced clear, finely detailed results.

Daguerreotypes were the forerunners of our modern film. It was made of copper plate coated
with silver and exposed to iodine vapour before it was exposed to light. To create the image on
the plate, it must be exposed to light for about 15 minutes.

1848- Abel Niepce de saint-Victor introduced a process of negatives on glass using albumen (egg
white) as binding medium.

1850- Louis Desirie Blanquart-Evard introduced a printing paper coated with albumen to achieve
a glossy surface.

1851- Frederick Scott Archer- published a “wet plate” process when collodion- a viscous liquid
that dries to a tough flexible and transparent film-replaced albumen.

1885- Gelatin emulsion printing paper was commercially introduced based films in 1889.

1956- when John F.W. Herchel coined the word photography.

1861- James Clark Maxwell researches on colors.

1890- full corrected lenses were introduced.

1947- Edwin H Land introduced “ Polaroid” the one-step-photography.

1960- Laser was invented making possible Holograms (three dimensional pictures)

1988- The arrival of true digital cameras.

Important dates of Digital Cameras

a. The first true digital camera that recorded images as a computerized file was likely the Fuji
DS- 1P of 1988, which recorded to a 16 MB internal memory card that used a battery to keep the
data in memory.
b. The first commercially available digital camera was the 1992 Kodak DCS-100. It used a 1.3
megapixel sensor and was priced at $ 13,000.
c. The first consumer camera with a LCD on the back was the Casio QV-10 in 1995
d. The first camera to use compact flash was the Kodak DC-25in 1996.
e. In 1999 the Nikon D1 a 2.74 megapixel camera was the first digital SLR with a price of under
$6,000.

Criminal Application of Photography

1854 -an Englishman, maddox, developed a dry plate photography eclipsing daquerre’s wet
plate on tin method.
-This made practical the photography of inmates for prison records.
1859 - in the United state one of the earliest applied Forensic Science was in Photography.
- Enlarged photographs of signature was presented in a court case involving forgery.
1864 -Odelbercht first advocate the use of photography for the identification of criminals and
the documentary of evidence and crime scene.
Rogues Gallery is called as photograph of Criminals

1882 -Alponse Bertillion who initiated anthropometric measurement for personal identification
was also involved in various means of documentation by photography which developed into a
fine science for Criminalistics when he photographed crime scenes and formulated a technique of
contact photography to demonstrate erasures on documents.
1910 -Victor Baltazard developed a method of photographic comparison of bullets and cartridge
cases which act as an early foundation of the field of ballistics.
16th century -Italian scholars used the camera as drawing apparatus instead of using a darkroom
1850 -the year when photography was already well-developed

Important Personalities in the world of Photography

Victor Baltazard -is professor of forensic medicine at Sorborne, used photographic

enlargements of bullets and cartridge cases to determine weapon type and was among the first to
attempt to individualize a bullet to a weapon.

Aristotle
• A famous Philosopher who invented the first pinhole camera that was known later as
camera Obscura.

Alhazen
• An arabian scholar who found out that light entering a small hole on the wall or shuttered
window of darked room cast an upside down pictures of the scene outside onto the
opposite wall.
 • He was considered to be the one who invented the camera
• Known as the father of modern optics
Johann Heinrich Schulze
• A German scientist who discover Silver Nitrate when he exposed it to light it turned
purple.
• He discovered that the evening action was not due to heat but light
• He finally concluded that silver Nitrate is sensitive to light and capable of producing
image.
Mathew Brady
• When the America Civil War broke out, he was able to preserve the scene with the use of
a camera.
Sir Isaac Newton
• An English philosopher, Mathematician and physicist who discovered and proved that the
strongest light is white light.
Nadar
• He took the first Aeral Photogaphs of paris from a free ballon in 1858
Sir William Abney
• He Discovered the use of Hydroquinone as a developing agent in 1880 in England.
Wilhelm Peongent(1895)
• He discovered X-ray photography which later became the Basis of Radiograph used used
by the doctors in measuring the heartbeat and to see the other structure of the body.
Aloh Roemer
• He measured the Speed of light in 1676
James Clark Maxwell
• A British scientist who discovered the wavelength structure of light after 20 years of
research
• He Likewise researched on colors
Steven Sasson
• An Amerian electrical engineer who invented the digital camera
• Invented SLR camera
Legal foundation of Photographic Evidence

1. For Black and White photographs

1859 -Daguerreotype was used in a civil case, Lueo vs. United States, 23 Howard 515 to decide
on the authenticity of photographs in comparing signatures.

1874 -in a criminal case introducing photograph as identification evidence, underzook vs.
Commnwealth, 76 Pa. 340

“Color photographs”

1943 -civil litigations Green vs. City and county of denver, 3 Colo. 390 142 P. 2 D. 277
involving color photography of spoiled meat in violation of a health ordinance prohibiting the
sale of putrid (decaying with disgusting smell) meat to the public
1960 -In criminal case, state vs. Conte 157 comm. 251 A.2d 81 showing the graphic wound of
the victim.

“Criminology Education”

1902 -Dr. R.A. Reis professor at the University of Lausanne Switzerland set up one of the first
academic curricular in forensic science.
1950 -August Vallmer, Chief of police of Berkeley, California established the school of
Criminology at the university of California, Berkeley. Paul kirk presided over the major of
criminalistics within the school.
1954 -in the philippines, the school which Pioneered Criminology education is the Plaridel
educational Institution now the Philippine College of Criminology Sta. Cruz Manila.

“The Principles of Photography”

Photography is the mechanical and chemical result of photography. To produce a photograph,

light is needed aside from sensitized materials.
Lights reflected or radiated by a subject must reach the sensitized materials while all other lights
must be excluded
The amount of light on the sensitized material after exposure is not immediately visible to the
eyes.
 Lesson 3:

PHOTOGRAPHIC RAYS: ITS NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS

What is Light?

Light -is one of a number of known forms of radiant electromagnetic energy which travel in
wave motion.

Speed of Light

Even an n 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
thousands 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).

Aloh Roemer (Denmark) – he measured the speed of light in 1676.

Sources of Light:
A. Natural Light – Sun, Flames, and stars.
B. Artificial Light – any light which is produced through human agency.

Light is a radiation – radiation is the transmission of heat or light especially from one body to
another body. When an atom in a light source is changed physically, it emits a PHOTON
(Electromagnetic Radiation) which behaves like a wave, and at the same time, like a particle.
Light is a particular type of electromagnetic radiation that can be seen and sensed by the human
eye, but this energy exists at a wide range of wavelengths.

The micron is the basic unit for measuring the wavelength of electromagnetic waves. The
spectrum of waves is divided into sections based on wavelength.
Gamma rays – shortest waves 10-6 microns or less
Radio waves – longest waves, wavelengths of many kilometres. The range of visible consists of
the narrow portion of the spectrum, from .04 microns (blue) to 0.7 microns (red).

Wavelength - is measured by the angstrom unit or in terms of mili-

microns (English system of measure) or nonameter (metric system of
measure) which is equivalent to one over one million of a millimeter.
- Wavelength is the distance from the crest (highest point) to the wave to
the next succeeding crest
- Frequency is the number of waves passing in a given point in one second.
- Wavelength + Frequency is the speed of travel
“Different Energies in the Electromagnetic Spectrum”.

1. Cosmic rays
2. Gamma rays
3. X-rays
4. Ultraviolet rays
5. Visible light
6. Infrared rays
7. Heat rays
8. Hertzian waves
What are the other energies that are capable of being recorded on sensitized materials?
1. X-rays
2. Ultraviolet rays
3. Visible light
4. Infrared rays

* They are sometimes referred to as the four photographic rays of modern photography

wavelength of different energies.

1. X-rays - 01 to 30 nanometers

2. Ultraviolet rays- 30 to 400 nn

3. Visible light from- 400 to 700 nn

4. Infrared rays from 700 to 1,000+ nn but the longest wavelength that the present sensitized
materials could record is only up to this limit.

5. The Webster Dictionary defines light ad a radiant electromagnetic energy that can be
seen by the naked eye.

6. Light rays with a wavelength of 400 to 700 nn is referred to as visible light because it is
only within these wavelengths that the human eye is capable of perceiving. Those with
shorter or longer wavelengths are commonly referred as invisible radiations

* If we divide the wavelength of visible light (400-700 nn.) equally into three (from 400-
500nn, from 500 to 600 nn and from 600-700nn.) we will produce Bule, Green and Red
colors. These are known as the three primary colors of light as differentiated from the
three primary colors of paints, dyes and coloring matters which are the blue, yellow and
red.

General Types of Light

1. Visible Light- Lights with a wavelength of 400-700 nn.

2. Invisible Light- Lights with shorter or longer wavelengths.
 Additive Color Mixture

1. Blue + Green = cyan color

2. Green + red= yellow color
3. red + blue= magenta
4. Blue+Green+red= white color
In this aspect the cyan, yellow and magenta are known as the three secondary colors of
light
For practical purpose, white is the presence of all colors while black is the absence of all
colors or the absence of light.

Subtractive Color Mixture

1. The cyan filter will transmit blue and green light but absorbs red from white light.

2. The yellow filter will transmit green and red light but absorbs blue from white light.

3. The magenta filter will transmit red and blue light but absorbs green from white light.

“In simple term”

• cyan is the complementary of red

• Yellow is the complementary of blue
• magenta is the complementary of green

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY COLORS

The three primary colors in light are red, green and blue. White light can be made by
mixing red, blue and green. The process of making colors by mixing primary colors of light is
called addition, because one color is added to another.

Colors made by combining two primary colors are called secondary colors. They are
yellow (red and green), cyan (blue and green) and magenta (blue and red). When the primary
colors are mixed in different proportions any color at all can be produced.

Painted objects do not produce their own light, they reflect light, when objects look red,
because it is reflecting only red light to our eyes. To do this, it absorbed the other primary colors
in the white light it is reflecting. It absorbed green and blue and reflects red.

OPTICS

Optics is the study of light. It is concerned with the nature of light and the way it behaves
in optical instruments. Light is a form of energy and so an object may only produce light when
there is energy present. A red-hot piece of metal receives energy in the form of heat and converts
some of it into red light.
 Lesson 4
The Properties of Light

1. Absorption -the color of most ordinary objects are due to the

fact that they do not absorb the same amount of light at each wavelength.

2. Scattering - the Color of the blue sky is due to the scattering of light
by the atmosphere.

3. Interference -Color can also be produce by interference of light waves

in thin film like in soap bubbles or a film of oil floating in water.

4. Fluorescence -This happens when molecules of the fluorescent

material absorb energy at one wavelength and radiate it at another wavelength.

5. Dispersion -Color may arise from differences in the refractive or bending power of a
transparent medium of light of different wavelength. The rainbow is a good example of this
phenomenon.

Bending of light

1. Reflection- is the deflection or bouncing back of light when hits a surface

a. Regular reflection- happens when light hits a flat smooth and shiny surface.

b. Irregular or diffused reflection- occurs when light hits a rough or uneven but
glossy object

Reflection on concave mirror

Reflection on convex mirror

 Reflection of plat surface

2. Refraction
- the bending of light when passing from one medium to another

3. Diffraction
- the bending of light when it hits a sharp edge of an opaque object.
4. Rectilinear
- The nature of light that normally travels in straight line.

5. Filtration
- The character of light to be altered from its colorless into its visible state

6. Polarization
- The process by which the vibration of light are confined to a define plane where the
speed of light can be measured.

Qualities of light

1. Intensity -It refers to the strength of light which varies according to the output of the
light source and the distance from the source.
 2. Direction -when there is a single source, the direction is clearly defined. Where there are
multiple sources, or the light is diffused as on a cloudy day, the direction is less evident
or totally absent.

3. Color -light varies in color depending upon its source and the substance through which it
passes. Natural sunlight has a different color mixture from incandescent lighting or
electronic flash, and the color of sunlight itself varies depending upon the atmospheric
conditions and time of the day.

Kinds of object as to how they behave to light

1. Transparent objects-
- allows sufficient visible light to pass through them the object on the
other side may be clearly seen.

2. Translucent objects
-allows light to pass, however diffuse it sufficiently that objects on the
other side may not be clearly distinguished.

3. Opaque objects
-So greatly diffuse the light that recognizing the objects on the other side
is very difficult if not impossible.

Lesson # 5
Source of Light
Source of Light

1. Natural Light source- those coming from nature like the sun, moon, stars, other
heavenly bodies, lightning, fire, etc.
Kinds of shadow casted by an object in open space.

1. Bright sunlight- a lighting condition where objects in open space cast a deep and
uniform or distinct shadow.
2. Hazy sunlight- objects in open space cast a transparent shadow
3. Dull sunlight- objects in open space cast no shadow.

a. Cloudy bright- objects in open space cast no shadow but objects at far distance are
clearly visible
b. Cloudy dull- objects in open space cast no shadow and visibility of distant objects are
already limited.

Artificial Light Source- light source of this category are man-made and is divided into the
continuous radiation and the short duration.
 a. Continuous Radiation- are those that can give illumination continuously. The
common light source of this kinds are the fluorescent lamp, incandescent lamps, carbon arc
lamp, photoflood lamp, gas lamp, ect.

b. Short Duration (Flash Unit)- a flash gives a brief flash of light produced by a burning
metallic wire (flash bulb) or an electrical discharge through a gas-filled tube (electronic flash).

Forensic Light Sources

1. Ultraviolet Lamp- ultraviolet lamps used in forensic work come in variety of shape, sizes
and power.
* the ultraviolet radiation is broken down into the long wave U.V., the medium wave U.V. and
the short wave UV.
a. long Wave UV -is used in a wide variety of applications in medical and forensics.
b. medium wave UV- is often used in chemical analysis and in curing and hardening
of different items for industrial application.
c. Short wave UV- is used for variety of purpose such as to sterilize air and place of
work. It is an effective germicide, destroying many biological contaminants.

2. LASER- Light Amplification through Simulated Emission of Radiation.

* Developed years 1970
* This was especially significant in locating dried biological stains such as semen,
urine and saliva, as well as stains that had been wash.
* LASER is also known as coherent light.
3. Alternative light Source(ALS)-
* Developed in mid 1980’s as a far more inexpensive alternative to forensic LASER.
* These multiple band pass filters allows the operator to match the LASER frequency
available at crime scene.

References:
1. Waynelfred H. Vilarba Ph.D. (2005) Forensic Photography: Wiseman’s Books Traiding, Inc.
18-B Congressional Avenue Cor. Visayas Ave. Proj. 6, Queszon City, Philippines.

2. Waynelfred H. Vilarba Ph.D. (2008) Forensic Photography for Criminology students and
Practitioners: Wiseman’s Books Traiding, Inc. 18-B Congressional Avenue Cor. Visayas
Ave. Proj. 6, Queszon City, Philippines.

3. Kalalang S.S. et al (2009), Instructional Handbook on Police Photography with Laboratory

Manual: Wiseman Book Trading, Inc. 18-B Congressional Avenue Cor. Visayas Ave.
Proj. 6, Queszon City, Philippines.

3. CherryAnn Cabarrubias, MSCrim. Compiled Notes in Photography (Unpublished).

4. Ranulfu T. Bayag-o Ph.D. Crim. Compiled lecture notes in Police Photography

(Unpublished).

5. Ma. Salvacion P. Collado Module in Photography: Nueva Ecija University of Science and
Technology. Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines(unpublished).