Forensic Photography: A Practitioner's Guide

7 Finger and Shoe Mark Photography

7.1 Overview

The accurate recording of finger and shoe marks has traditionally been one of the key duties for the forensic photographer and its significant input into an investigation cannot be underplayed. In no other area of photography do other experts look so critically at the quality of our work to enable them to undertake theirs.

It is also one of the most rewarding areas of work to be engaged in and can bring a great deal of personal and professional satisfaction, especially when a suspect is identified because of your efforts. In many books or articles I have read, the photography of finger and shoe marks is often mentioned only in passing, or in the case of fingerprints they only refer to their capture. Many police forces almost exclusively use automated systems such as Foster and Freeman's DSC4,¹ the Integrated Rapid Imaging System (IRIS) produced by the Home Office² or FISH (Forensic Information Scanning Hub).³ However, when confronted with key or critical marks, particularly those at, or recovered from, serious crime scenes, a more bespoke approach is I believe required. Therefore I will not be covering the use of automated capture systems within this book, as there use is comprehensively covered in their own user manuals.

In this chapter, I want us to explore the techniques that we can use to capture marks before and after lifting or chemical treatments are deployed, both within the laboratory and, more importantly, at scenes. ...