Forensic photography is essentially the documentation of any given crime scene for the purpose of accumulating evidence for judicial uses, such as furthering an investigation of a murder, an accident, or any other incident in which evidence is needed. The forensic photographer’s main goal is to accurately show a crime scene using varied angles to give as much information concerning the crime in question. The majority of forensic photographers will work directly with police/law departments, however many work for small personal injury lawyers or law firms in which they essentially do the same thing; build evidence for a case.
The field of forensic photography is extremely technical, and there is little to no room for artistic creativity; it is essentially all business, which makes sense considering the context is very serious. Many techniques are used in the domain of forensic photography including small optical microscopes, ultraviolet and infrared photography, x ray photography, and much more to ensure as much information as possible is obtained from any given scene. Because of the digital revolution, high quality digital cameras are often used at crime scenes instead of 35mm cameras. Forensic photographers often start their studies as crime scene investigators or police officers, since an understanding of the justice system/criminal law and also how to behave on crime scenes (not moving evidence, etc etc) are important aspects of the job. The use of scale is also very important in shooting forensic photos: if the job calls for it, the subject you are shooting must have an object that is common (a quarter, a shoe, etc) in the frame as well for which the subject can be compared to in size.
Forensic photography began in the mid 18th century when inmates’ photos were taken in Belgium and Denmark for archival purposes. These photographers at the time were not trained in any field and were usually just prison guards themselves. Years later, Alphonse Bertillon, French police officer and creator of anthropometry (literally translating to “measurement of man”), was credited as the inventor of the mug shot which is still used to this day. He suggested the studying of profiles and full face shots to indentify criminals, which was a huge step up from the unreliable eyewitness accounts that were in use at the time. The coming about of the finger print took over much of what Bertillon had done, but his work and mug shots to his specifications are still in use to this day.
