Bloodstain
Photography
by George Schiro
Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory
P. O. Box 66614
Baton Rouge, LA 70896
Once the walk through is completed, the notes must be supplemented with other
forms of documentation, such as videotape, photographs, and/or sketches.
Videotape can be an excellent medium for documenting bloodstains at a crime
scene. If a video camera is available, it is best used after the initial
walk through. This is to record the evidence before any major alterations
have occurred at the scene. Videotape provides a perspective on the crime
scene layout that cannot be as easily perceived in photographs and sketches.
It is a more natural viewing medium to which people can readily relate,
especially in demonstrating the structure of the crime scene and how the
evidence relates to those structures.
The value of videotaping blood evidence is that the overall relationship
of various blood spatters and patterns can be demonstrated. One example of
this could be a beating homicide. In this case, videotape can show the overall
blood spatter patterns and how these spatters are inter related. The videotape
can also show the relationship of the spatters to the various structures
at the crime scene. In cases where the suspect may have been injured (such
as stabbing homicides), the video camera can be used to document any blood
trails that may lead away from the scene. If videotaping indoors, the camera
can show how the various areas are laid out in relation to each other and
how they can be accessed. This is particularly valuable when recording peripheral
bloodstains that may be found in other rooms. The high intensity light source
can also be used for illuminating the bloodstains to make them more visible
on the videotape.
Whether a video camera is available or not, it is absolutely essential that
still photographs are taken to document the crime scene and any associated
blood evidence. If a video camera is available, then still photography will
be the second step in recording the crime scene. If video is not available,
then still photography will be the first step. Photographs can demonstrate
the same type of things that the videotape does, but crime scene photographs
can also be used to record close up details, record objects at any scaled
size, and record objects at actual size. These measurements and recordings
are more difficult to achieve with videotape.
Blood evidence can be photographed using color print film and/or color slide
film. Infrared film can also be used for documenting bloodstains on dark
surfaces. Overall, medium range, and close up photographs should be taken
of pertinent bloodstains. Scaled photographs (photographs with a ruler next
to the evidence) must also be taken of items in cases where size relevance
is significant or when direct (one-to-one) comparisons will be made, such
as with bloody shoeprints, fingerprints, high velocity blood spatter patterns,
etc. A good technique for recording a large area of blood spatter on a light
colored wall is to measure and record the heights of some of the individual
blood spatters. The overall pattern on the wall including a yard stick as
a scale is then photographed with slide film. After the slide is developed,
it can be projected onto a blank wall or onto the actual wall many years
after the original incident. By using a yardstick, the original blood spatters
can be viewed at their actual size and placed in their original positions.
Measurements and projections can then be made to determine the spatters'
points of origin.
