CHAPTER I

POLICE PHOTOGRAPHY

UNIT 1. INTRODUCTION TO POLICE PHOTOGRAPHY

Introduction:
The investigators could not rely on their memories in which photograph would serve as a sort
of artificial memory for them. Remembering all the things they had examined or investigated would
be impossible after several years before the case is presented in court. They need to preserve the
things they had examined and investigated for future references and court presentation.

A. NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE COURSE

This course deals with the fundamentals of photography. It is focused on the
application of photographic principles in law enforcement, criminalistics, criminology, and
their allied fields.

This course is divided in two major topics: Technical Photography and Investigative
Police Photography. In Technical Photography, the topics include the following: the
characteristics of photographic rays; the use of camera, lenses, and filters; the structure of
film and photographic papers; the darkroom; and film development and image printing. In
Investigative Police Photography, topics to be explored are focused on mug file preparation
and crime scene photography.

B. OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE

This not intended to make them professional photographers but it is designed to give them
necessary information to understand the significance of photography in law enforcement and criminal
investigation. As future law enforcers or criminal investigators, they must be knowledgeable in the art
and science of photographically capturing, collecting and preserving evidence, and thus effectively
utilize photographic evidences during court proceedings.

Furthermore, to let them realize the vital use of photography as a significant tool in law
enforcement and criminal investigation. This is also to make them knowledgeable on how to use
effectively and efficiently utilize photographic evidences in court proceedings.

Learning Outcomes: At the end of the chapter, the students will have to:
1. explain the origin of photography;
2. rationalize the objectives of photography and its significance to crime scene investigation
and law enforcement agencies;
3. discuss the principles of photography;
4. summarize the historical development of photography; and
5. discuss the proper care and handling of camera.

SIGNIFICANCE OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN LE & CI

A. Photographs are necessary to preserve:

1. SPACE – the where of the crime (locus criminis)
2. TIME – the when of the crime
3. EVENT – the what of the crime (what is the nature or character of the crime)
B. Pictures allow police investigators to understand the element of the clarifying and revealing
what is not seen and understood upon the discovery of the crime.
 C. Photograph is a great help in preserving the visual appearance of the crime. It provides a
permanent record of the facts of the crime.

APPLICATIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN POLICE WORK

1. Identification Purposes
a. Prisoners, persons subject of investigation
b. Unidentified cadavers *
c. Missing persons
d. Lost or stolen properties*
e. Civilian ( police clearances for employment, travel abroad and other purposes)

2. Recording and Preserving of Evidences

a. Crime Scenes*
b. Traffic Accidents
c. Objects of evidences *
d. Evidential Traces *

3. Discovering and Proving of Evidences not readily seen by the naked eye
a. Contrast control by lighting, use of filters, use of different films and papers.
b. Magnification or enlargement of tiny objects such as photomicrography,
macrophotography and microphotography.
c. Use of invisible radiation like X-rays, UV rays and IR rays

4. Recording Action of Offenders

a. surveillance
b. entrapment
c. extra-judicial confession
d. re-enactment of a crime

5. For Court Exhibits

a. individual photographs
b. slide projections
c. comparison charts
d. motion picture or video coverage/presentation

6. For Crime Prevention *

7. Public Information *

8. Police Training *

C. BASIC CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES

D.
1. Definition of PHOTOGRAPHY:

 As an Art:
- Photography is the art of taking pictures.

 As a Science:
 - Photography is the study concerning the production of permanent records of
images by the combined action of light on sensitive surfaces (films and
photographic papers), a mechanical devices (camera) and chemical
processing (film developing and printing).

 As a Technology:

- Photography is the technology geared towards the reproduction of images

by using the action of light on a sensitive surface (photographic film) with the
help of an image forming device (camera) and the chemical process
(developing and printing) involved therein.

 As a Process:

-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 – to RAF (regulate, absorb, and filter) LIGHT;

b. FILM (any sensitized material) – to RECORD LIHGT.

Photography used in this study primarily refers to the image – making processes that are
based on photochemical reactions such as those that take place in the production of conventional
prints and slides.

2. Etymology of Photography:

- 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/PHOS (light) and GRAPHOS/GRAPHEIN (writing). Thus literally,
photography means “to draw with light”. In photography, the light “writes” when it
strikes minute crystals of light – sensitive chemical compounds (i.e. silver halide) in
the film emulsion and causes very subtle change in crystals.

3. Definition of POLICE PHOTOGRAPHY

a. Police photography is the study of general practices, methods or techniques

of taking pictures of the crime scene, physical evidences, and other
circumstances that can be used as evidences or for law enforcement
purposes.

b. It is a field that focuses on the practical application of the science of

photography in police work or law enforcement operations.

c. It is a field that deals with systematic crime scene photography and mugfile
preparation, including scientific techniques of photography physical
evidences and other objects and images that need to be reproduced and
preserved for law enforcement purpose.

4. Definition of FORENSIC PHOTOGRAPHY:

Forensic photography is that field covering the legal application of photography in

criminal jurisprudence and criminal investigation. It is that branch of forensic science, sometimes
called criminalistics, dealing with the:
 a. Study of fundamental but pragmatic principles of photography.
b. Application of photography in law enforcement; and
c. Preparation of photographic evidences needed by prosecutors and courts of
law.

UNIT II
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF PHOTOGRAPHY/HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT

THE BIRTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Although photography was first made public in 1839, the theory behind the principles of
the medium begins with Aristotle’s description of how light waves behave when projected through a
small aperture. This is fundamentally the description of how lens or camera’s aperture operates when
it projects an image onto the film at the back of the camera. In the middle ages, ALHAZEN and
FRANCIS BACON extended this principle to include a large, darkened room with a small opening in
one wall. In the 15th to 18th centuries, this CAMERA OBSCURA, as it came to be called, was reduced
in size and made convenient for artist to use in tracing scenic designs and architectural perspective be
called, was reduced in size and made convenient artist to use in tracing scenic designs and
architectural protective.
Photography was born when Niepce preserved an image on a pewter plate in a primitive
camera. His oldest surviving photograph (1826), a view of his estate at Gras, France, required an
exposure of several hours.

17th CENTURY

The photosensitivity of certain silver compounds, particularly silver nitrate and silver
chloride, had been known for some time before British scientist Thomas Wedgwood and Sir Humphry
Davy began experiments late in the 17 th century in the recording of photographic images. Using paper
coated with silver chloride, they succeeded in producing images of paintings, silhouettes of leaves,
and human profiles. These photographs were not permanent, however, because the entire surface of
the paper blackened after exposure to light.
 The chemical principle basic to photography were described well before photography was
“invented”. JOHANN SCHULZE, in 1727, demonstrated that silver salts turned dark when exposed
to light altered by light, and he indicated a possible way of stabilizing the photochemical process. By
the end of the 17th century, the necessary equipment (the camera obscura) and the requisite
photochemistry (silver salts as photosensitive material and ammonia as stabilizer) were available, at
least to produce semi-permanent photographic images.

The artistic style and aesthetic of Renaissance and post-renaissance Europe placed a high
value on a naturalistic rending of nature and thus legitimized the use of machines like the camera
obscura by artist. By the mid-17 th century, a public demand had made itself felt for realistic portraits,
which was partially satisfied by other machines for recording human likeness. Beginning in the
1790’s JACQUES CHARLES conducted experiments in the automatic, if impermanent, recording of
portrait silhouettes on photosensitive paper. Two imperatives – the need for perspective accurate
landscape and architectural scene for objectively truthful portraits – created a climate for certain types
and styles of picture that, after 1839, would be achieved easily by photography.

18th Century

1802, France. WEDGWOOD and SIR HUMPRY DAVY published the first report in English of an
attempt to produce a photographic image. Their attempt was not successful because they could not
make their images permanent. Similarly, but with more success, JOSEPH NICEPHORE NIEPCE, in
1816 near Chalon-sur-Saone. France, experimented with combining photosensitive materials with
lithography in order to facilitate his endeavors in printmaking,

1820, France. JOSEPH NICEPHORE NIEPCE, a French physicist, had the idea of trying to reproduce
nature by transferring the image projected by a CAMERA OBSCURA onto some sort of alterable
surface. Later, he produced camera images on paper sensitized with silver-chloride solution.
However, the fixation is only partial. Niepce regarded the results as “imperfect and failure” because
they are reversed in tonality (negative).

Early 1820’s, France. Niepce started producing HELIOGRAPHS or heliographic drawings (contact-
print image of engraving or other line copy on glass, paper or metal coated with a bitumen varnish
that hardens when exposed).

1822, France. JOSEPH NICEPHORE NIEPCE could claim some success, achieving what he called
“points de vue” smart images made by the camera obscura with more than eight hours of exposure.
Between 1822 and 1827, he had perfected this process, based on the principle that bitumen of Judea
turns insoluble when exposed to light. Also, he could fabricate photographically generated photo-
etchings (similar to modern photography). His earliest extant picture is about 1826.

1826, France. Niepce produced the FIRST PERMANENT PHOTOGRAPH in a camera on a pewter
plate coated with a bitumen to let the dark metal plate represent shadows. Various amounts of
hardened bitumen remain to form highlight middle tones.

1829, France. Niepce entered a partnership with French painter and theater designer LOUIS
JACQUES MANDE DAGUERRE, who had also been trying to make the camera images permanent.

1829, France. Niepce used silver plates in place of pewter, and devised a way to remove bitumen from
highlights after darkening shadow areas. Daguerre formed a partnership with Niepce to perfect this
invention.

1831, France. LOUIS JACQUES MANDE DAGUERRE made photographs on silver plates coated
with a light-sensitive layer of silver iodide. After exposing the plate for several minutes. Daguerre
used mercury vapors to develop a positive photographic image. These photographs were not
permanent because the plates gradually darkened, obliterating the image. In the first permanent
photographs made by Daguerre, the developed plate was coated with a strong solution of ordinary
table salt. This fixing process, originated by British inventor William Henry Fox Talbot, rendered the
unexposed silver-iodide particles insensitive to light and prevented total blackening of the plate. The
Daguerre method produces an unreproducible image on the silver plate for each exposure made .

1933, France. Niepce died. LOUIS JACQUES MANDE DAGUERRE took over actual experiments
in the field of photography. Daguerre continued his efforts to perfect a photographic process until, in
1939 he was successful enough to have his invention purchased by the French government and made
public.

THE DAGUERREOTYPE

Daguerre’s process, called DAGUERREOTYPE as named after him, is an image formed on a

copperplate that has been silver-plated, polished to a mirror-like surface and exposed to iodine
entering from a lens, and “developed” by mercury fumes that adhere only to those areas of the plate
that have received a quantity of light. After processing, the mercury-silver amalgam, whitish in tone,
represents the light areas of the scene of portrait; the darker areas remain as polished silver after fixing
with hypo. When held in such a way as to reflect a dark surface, the polished silver represents the dark
areas. The daguerreotype was a perfect jewel of an image; no grain, perfect focus and clarity, and an
incredible range of tonal variations. Unfortunately, only one image could be made at a time, and there
was no provision for duplicate because the daguerreotype directly rendered the image as it entered the
camera via the lens, the picture was laterally reversed, as in a mirror.

While Daguerre perfected his process, Talbot developed a photographic method involving the
use of a paper negative from which an unlimited number of prints could be made. Talbot had
discovered that paper coated with silver iodine could be made more sensitive to light if dampened
before exposure by a solution that could be used in developing the paper after exposure. After
development, the negative image was made permanent by immersion in sodium thiosulfate, or hypo.
Talbot’s method called the CALOTYPE PROCESS, required exposures of about 60 seconds to
produce an adequate image on the negative. In the calotype process, the grain structure of the paper
negatives appeared in the finished print. Both Daguerre and Talbot announced their process in 1839.
within three years the exposure time in both process had been reduced to several seconds.

1835, England. William Henry Fox Talbot produced NEGATIVE IMAGES on silver-chloride paper
by long “print-out” exposures in a CAMERA OBSCURA but they are imperfectly fixed.

1835, France. Daguerre discovered that mercury fumes could develop an invisible (latent) image on a
silver-plated that is sensitized with iodine fumes before exposure.

1839, England. Talbot, pointed out the basis of MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY. A negative on a
suitable material (such as paper) can be used to produce as many positive copies as desired by
CONTACT PRINTING. Sir John F. W. Herschel coined the word PHOTOGRAPHY (then suggested
NEGATIVE and POSITIVE in the following year), and pointed out that images can be made
permanent by dissolving away unexposed silver compounds with a solution of hypo sulfite of soda
(hypo or sodium thiosulfate), which he had discovered in 1819.

1839, France. On August 19, the DAGUERREOTYPE (the first practical photographic process) was
introduced to the world. Exposures in this photographic process were uncomfortably long for portrait,
but images were made permanent by the use of HYPO. The precision of details and exquisite beauty
of the DIRECT-POSITIVE IMAGES ON SILVER PLATES make the DAGUERREOTYPE an
immediate world-wide success, although the complex procedures and cost put in beyond the research
of new people.

1840, England. Talbot discovered the method of developing paper-negative images that greatly
reduced the exposure required in the camera.
1840, United State. J.W. Draper was one of the first to produce photographic portraits using a lens
with a diameter of 5 inches and a focus of 7 inches.

1840, Australia-Hungary. J.M. Petzval designed the first lens specifically designed for photographic
use; its maximum aperture of 3.6 made possible portrait exposure not less than one minute. This
launched the most widespread use of the DAGUERREOTYPE. The lens is produced the following
year by Vioglander for use in the first-metal, utilized camera.

1841, England. Talbot patented the CALOTYPE PROCESS, later called the TALOTYPE. Negative
on a paper sensitized with silver iodide, silver nitrate, and gallic acid were developed in gallic acid;
positives were made by printing out exposure on similarly sensitized paper. Use of the process was
greatly restricted by its inferior tonality and resolving power (as compared to the
DAGUERREOTYPE) and by Talbot’s stringent patent enforcement and expensive licensing
requirements.

1843-48, Major achievements on the PAPER-NEGATIVE process were made by Hill and Adamson,
and by various photographers on the continent, beyond the reach of Talbot’s legal agents.

1842, France. French Physicist CLAUDE FELIX ABEL NIEPCE DE SAINT-VICTOR devised a
method of using a glass-plate negative. The plate, which was coated with potassium bromide
suspended in albumin, was prepared before exposure by immersion in a silver-nitrate solution. The
glass-plate negatives provided excellent image definition but required long exposures.

1851, England. F.S. Archer published a method of using collodion in place of albumen for negative
on glass. It comes to be called the “wet plate” or “collodion” process because the plate must be
coated, sensitized, exposed, and processed before the collodion dries to a tough, waterproof,
transparent sheet (far superior in handling qualities to albumen) that can be shipped from glass to
form a flexible, plastic negative. The typical working time is a maximum of 20 minute under normal
conditions.
A variation of the process positive appearing images, called AMBROTYPE, was introduced in which
the glass-negative is blacked with black material.

Talbot demonstrated the possibility of FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY by using an intense electric

spark discharge to get a sharp image of moving subject. The apparatus that was required was not
suitable for practical application.

1851, England. British sculptor and photographer Frederick Scott Archer introduced wet glass plates
using collodion, rather than albumin, as the coating material in which light-sensitive compound were
suspended. Because these negatives had to be exposed and developed while wet, photographers
needed a darkroom close at hand in order to prepare the plates before exposure to developed them
immediately after exposure. Using wet collodion negatives and horse-drawn mobile darkrooms,
photographers on the staff of American photographer Mathew B. Brady took thousands of
photographs on battlefield sites during the American Civil War (1861-1865)

Because use of the wet collodion process was limited largely to professional photography,
various experimenters attempted to perfect a type of negative that could be exposed when dry and that
would not require immediate development after exposure. Advances were made by British merchant
Richard Kennett, who supplied dry-plate negatives to photographs as early as 1874.

1852, USA. Collodion direct positive-like ambrotypes produced on dark metal were introduced as
ferrotypes. They are commonly called TINTYPE because of the thin metal base material.
1853, England. J.B. Dancer made the first model of a twin-lens camera for STEREO
PHOTOGRAPHY based on working frame designs suggested in 1849 by Sir David Brewster.
Production of this type began in 1856.

1862, France. NADAR took the first AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS over Paris from a free balloon.

1861, Scotland. The first successful color photograph was made by British physicist JAMES clerk
MAXWELL, who used an additive-color process. James Clark Maxwell published a research in color
perception and the 3-color separation of light. His work was similar to that of Thomas Young (1801),
who explained the production of color by interference and diffraction in rolled gratings and thin films,
and had proposed the 3-COLOR THEORY OF VERSION. Maxwell demonstrated additive color
synthesis during the daytime cannot be added for color photography because their sensitivity is
limited to the blue region of the spectrum.

1868, France. Ducos de Haroun published methods for both additive and subtractive color syntheses
by photography, and suggested the use a three-color monopack plate. He demonstrated some results
obtained by diffraction and interference effects.

1871, England. Richard Leach Maddox invented the first truly practical dry plate negative process,
using gelatin in place of collodion to bind silver halides to glass plates.

1872, Germany. Professor H. W. Vogel discovered the use of dye substance to extend the sensitivity
of photographic emulsions from the blue into the green region of the spectrum, making possible
orthochromatic (correct color) plates, although they are still red blind.

1879, U.S.A. E.J. Muybridge invented the zoopraxiscope to project continuous movement from
photographic images. Lantern slides (positives) of a motion-study sequence were mounted on the
circumstance of a circular glass plate. This set up is coupled with a revolving shutter and a projector
to throw intermittent images on a screen area at which the human eye can blend the images into a
continuous flow.

1880, England. SIR WILLIAM ABNEY discovered the use of HYDROQUINONE, as a developing
agent.

1882, France. Etienne Marey began CHRONOPHOTOGRAPHY to record stages in the flow of
movement by recording successive images on a single plate at constant rate of 12 per second and
faster.

1883-1884, American inventor George Eastman produced a film consisting of a long paper strip
coated with a sensitive emulsion. In 1889 Eastman produced the first transparent, flexible film
support, in the form of ribbons of cellulose nitrate. The invention of roll film marked the end of the
early photographic era and the beginning of a period during which thousands of amateur
photographers became interested in the new process.

1888, Eastman patents Kodak roll-film camera.

1898, Reverend Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.

1900, first mass-marketed camera is the Brownie.

1913/1914, first 35mm still camera was developed.

1927, the modern flash bulb was invented.

1932, first light meter with photoelectric cell was introduced.

1935, Eastman Kodak marketed Kodachrome film.

1941, Eastman Kodak introduced Kodacolor negative film.

1942, Chester Carlson received patent for electric photography (xerography).

1948, Edwin Land marketed the Polaroid camera.

1954, Eastman Kodak introduced high speed tri-x film.

1960, Underwater camera for US Navy was developed.

1963, Polaroid introduced instant color film.

1968, Photograph of the earth from the moon was done.

1973, Polaroid introduced one-step instant photography with the SX-70 camera.

1977, George Eastman and Edwin Land were introduced into the National Inventor Hall of Fame.

1978, Konica introduced first point-and-shoot, autofocus camera.

1980, Sony demonstrated first consumer camcorder.

1984, Canon demonstrated digital electronic still camera.

1985, Pixar introduce digital first digital processor.

1990, Eastman Kodak announced Photo CD as a digital image storage medium.

UNIT III
Care and Handling of Camera

EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE

Even the simplest camera is a precision tool. Like your gun, it will do its job to you only
when you take care of it.

CASE: The best maintenance for your camera is protection. If you have a camera case, put your
camera inside it when not in use. If you have no case, at least keep the lens covered. Also, avoid the
common mistake of leaving the camera open when the film is removed, this will let in dust.

LENS: Take great care of the lens. As even cleaning causes damage, clean your lens only when there
is a genuine need. On the other hand, when the lens does not need cleaning, never put it off.
Fingerprint exhausts fumes and ocean salt will permanently damage the coating on many lenses if
they are left unclean.

MIRROR: Never touch the mirror you see inside the camera body when the lens is removed-it is
extremely delicate. Although the mirror maybe filthy, the mirror flips out of the way when you take a
photo and none of the dust on it will show up in your photos.
CONTACTS: corrosive environment can also damage the electrical contacts in the camera and in the
flash. This may be puzzling if you do not realize that it can happen. The solution is easy, just polish
the electrical contacts with ordinary pencil eraser.

FILM AND BATTERIES: Keep fresh film and flesh batteries on hand. You can no more afford to
have expired film and batteries in your camera than you can to have outdated bullets in your gun.

KIT: Finally, keep your photographic equipment TOGETHER as a kit and ready to use.
If you have any sort of carrying case, it will not only protect the equipment, but will help you to avoid
misplacing anything. You may have heard stories about professional photographers who have
reported for an assignment with a load of elaborate equipment and NO FILM! Some of these stories
are true. You can escape this sort to embarrassment by keeping your kit together.