How Crime Scene Photography Evolved From The Victorian Era To Today

The evolution of crime scene photos begins with pictures taken to identify inmates in the mid-1800s and leads right up to today's modern digital cameras capturing every minute detail of a crime scene. Tracking how crime scene photography has evolved is like going through an image-based tour of crime through the ages. In order to determine exactly how crime scene photography has changed, one first needs to understand the science and methodology behind it, which have become more sophisticated over time.

From Bertillon's grid processing to the use of infrared lighting, forensic photography has changed drastically over the years. Thanks to new technology in crime scene photography, law enforcement officials can take instantaneous pictures of evidence and share clues with other agencies. It has become far harder for the average criminal to escape justice due to these advancements. 

This almost artistic form of mystery solving is a fascinating part of the investigative process. Here is a detailed history of just how far crime scene photography has come.

"Photoshopping" has become a verb in modern society. It's based on the computer program Adobe Photoshop, which allows people to manipulate photos. However, photographers have been editing pictures to create clearer images since the 1870s. Photographer Abner Peeler started airbrushing pictures - essentially using a delicate painting technique to alter pictures - in 1879. By 1893, Charles Burdick had received a patent for the technique.

Early photo manipulation could only really lighten shadows or overlay several pictures taken with different aperture adjustments onto each other to see different details. Of course, early editing techniques were - as they are today - often used to fool the public or satisfy a subject's vanity. But, by and large, these techniques were quite useful to early crime scene photographers in enhancing their pictures for evidence. 

In 1955, German company Kilfitt Optische Fabrik invented the Makro-Kilar lens. This lens attached to a 35 MM camera, and was designed to take large pictures of very small objects. It made it easier to capture small bits of forensic evidence on film. Prior to this, the lenses used could only capture larger pictures and would come out blurry if taken at too close a distance. The Makro-Kilar ushered in the age of macro lenses which are now so universal versions of them can be purchased for cell phone cameras. 

Arthur Fellig, known as "Weegee," is perhaps the most famous crime scene photographer in the world. His nickname is a play on "Ouija board," due to his ability to arrive at crime scenes before police did. In reality, he lived across from a police station and had a radio scanner to hear when things were called in. Weegee's crime scene photos from the 1930s and '40s illustrated the dark side of life in New York City and he inspired forensic photographers across the country. 

Rodolphe A. Reiss (born Archibald A. Reiss) was a German criminologist working around the same time as Bertillon. Reiss expanded on Bertillon's grid method by taking pictures of more than just the immediate crime scene. He photographed every detail in and around the crime scene, from the outside of the building to any visible fingerprints and bits of blood spatter. This set up forensic photography practices that extend to modern day. 

In 1903, the first organized method of photographically documenting a crime scene was invented. The man who created the system was Alphonse Bertillon, a French criminologist. His method involved dividing each room (or scene) into a superimposed grid pattern. He called his system "metric photography."

He would take pictures of each section of the grid in a particular order. Once the photos were developed, Bertillon could place them on a board following the grid that he created. This allowed attorneys and law enforcement to better recreate the scene in court for the judge and jury. Bertillon later gave classes on how to use his system. 

Crime scene photography started with the basic documenting of inmates for identification purposes. These photos helped authorities keep track of who was in the prison system and allowed for police and other photographers to practice taking pictures on what were still primitive cameras. Belgium was the first country to take photos of their inmates, starting in 1843.

The practice spread to Denmark in 1851 and expanded from there. Quite quickly, as photography became more widespread a practice, this led to standardized mugshots and "Wanted" posters. This early introduction to photography in law enforcement expanded to include crime scenes. 

The first crime lab in America was set up in Los Angeles in 1924. August Vollmer, the Chief of Police for the city, wanted a designated place to process forensic evidence including pictures taken at crime scenes. The FBI was a bit behind and didn't have their first crime lab until 1932. The LAPD crime lab was known to be a "cutting edge" facility for many years and the work done there proved that all criminal forensics, including photography, benefited from formalization. 

Due to the popularity of Arthur "Weegee" Fellig's photography, many photographers (some reporters, some freelancers) would hang around police stations waiting for calls to come in. By the 1930s, crime scene photography was being utilized by law enforcement. Certain notorious criminals, like John Dillinger and Al Capone, even enjoyed having their pictures taken by these eager photographers. Police allowed the picture-taking if only because it yielded more pictures of the crime scenes that could then be used in the investigation. 

During the Victorian Period, people documented their recently deceased loved ones by having photographs taken of them. These pictures were a way to show the level of one's grief as well as to create a memento of the person. This practice made photographing the dead less taboo. 

Soon, law enforcement agencies drew from this practice to photograph dead bodies for autopsy photos. One infamous autopsy photo is of John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin. After a manhunt, Booth was cornered and shot to death in a barn. During his autopsy on the USS Montauk, a picture was taken of his body. Although the picture has since been lost, it was a precursor to autopsy pictures as proof of and insight into a criminal or victim's death. 

Although moving pictures were a viable medium from the early 1900s, law enforcement  agencies didn't use the technology for criminal investigative purposes until the 1960s. At that time, film cameras were large and bulky and reliant on switching out spools of film. Although smaller videotape recorders had been invented, it took some time for them to become mainstream with law enforcement agencies. By 1967, these videos were accepted by courts as evidence and were used to supplement still photos.