Mini Tutorial: Crime Scene Photography

Taking examination-quality photographs of shoe impressions

Photographing shoe impressions at crime scenes can be a little tricky, but with practice, you can take excellent examination-quality (eq) images of your footwear evidence.

EQ images are needed by footwear examiners to properly conduct an examination of the shoe print and the shoe it is being compared to. These photographs are sharp and completely in focus, photographed at the correct angle, properly composed and lit, and include the proper tools needed for the comparison process.

Start by taking overall photographs of the area where the impression(s) are located. If possible, show the impression(s) in relation to pertinent areas/items at the crime scene such as the window used to make entry into the house, (known as the point of entry or POE) or other items of evidence.

EQ impression photographs need to be taken as perpendicular (90 degrees) to the impression as possible. For this reason, always use a tripod to photograph shoe print evidence. Many excellent tripods are available, but I suggest a model that allows the center column to reverse or fold horizontally or a model the accepts a horizontal adapter.

Use an angle finder to determine the angle of the impression, then match the angle to the front surface of the lens. Now you have your optimum 90 degree shooting angle set.

Frame the shoe print tightly, but leave sufficient room for a scale, north direction indicator and your evidence marker. It is very important to have your scale at the same depth as your impression. Carefully clear material away down to the depth of the impression and place your scale alongside the impression. Set your camera in the manual focus mode and focus your lens at the bottom of the shoe impression where the detail is located.

Now you are ready to light your impression in a way that will allow you to capture maximum detail. This is done with what is known as oblique lighting. Shade your shoe impression from direct sunlight and use you flash to light your impression from a low, or oblique, angle. You must create contrast (highlights and shadows) with your flash to record the detail of three-dimensional impressions. You can not do this with your flash on your camera. Use a flash extender, both wired and wireless are available, to use your flash off-camera and still maintain communication between your camera and flash.

Angle your flash so the light "skims" across the impression causing highlights and shadows. Deeper impressions require a higher flash angle, shallow impressions require a lower or more oblique flash angle.

Use your flashlight to help find your starting angle. Use your camera’s LCD screen to fine tune and check your framing. Shoot with your flash pointing from a minimum of four sides of the impression. This will insure you show the detail of all areas of the shoe impression.

Use an aperture opening that will capture the entire impression in focus. This is called using a large depth-of-field*. An f/stop setting between f11 and f22 should be sufficient.

Use your camera's histogram* to check the exposure of your digital image.

*Check back for more Mini Tutorials on topics including depth-of-field and camera histograms.