by VJ Knipe
People in white coveralls, hair covered, faces masked and booties over their shoes, lurch onto the scene. Has there been a radiation leak? Blue and white tape cordons off the street. As you watch from behind pristine, lace curtains, a white tent is erected on the path across from number 37. A flash catches your attention. A photographer takes a long shot of the scene. No, it’s not a nuclear accident. You’ve seen this before on television. It’s a crime scene investigation, and the photographer is recording the crime scene.
So, in the previous two articles, we’ve Controlled the crime scene and Preserved it, what’s next? In the strict crime scene procedure, of Control, Preserve, Record, Recover, we now look at Record.
Recording the crime scene has always involved contemporaneous notes and sketches, but these days it also involves photography. When a photographer is on the scene, their job is to create a record of all evidence in situ, before any attempt is made to transport it to the labs for testing. Often, the location where evidence is found matters as much as what it is. Therefore, in modern policing the job of the crime scene photographer[i] is vital to obtaining a conviction.
This was not always the case. The progression of crime scene photography echoes the progression of forensic science. This is true in fiction as well as real life. While the famous detective Sherlock Holmes used his photographic memory, rather than a camera, to document the crime scene, the next generation of fictional crime solvers took up photography. The golden age of detective fiction spawned Lord Peter Whimsy and his photograph-taking valet. In Unnatural Death, it is Bunter’s photographs that solve the case.
Bunter entered, trimly correct in bearing, but with a glitter in his eye. He laid down two photographs on the table. “Excuse me, my lord and gentlemen, but would you be so good as to cast your eyes on these two photographs?”[ii]
Admittedly, he has matched two sets of fingerprints from different objects, but it is the photographs that lead to solving the case. As knowledge in forensic science improved, this became mirrored in fiction. Speculative fiction writers, both fantasy and science fiction, quickly picked up on this extra detail to provide realism in their stories. Studying the use of forensic photography in fantasy novel police procedurals, it is possible to chart the growth of forensics, both in reality and fiction, from the 1960s to the present day.
1960’s: Murder and Magic by Randell Garrett
Randall Garrett wrote a series of stories involving an aristocratic detective, Lord Darcy, who works for the Duke of Normandy, in an alternate history of Europe. These stories are set in a modern Europe, where the Laws of Magic had been codified under the reign of Richard the Lionheart. Lord Darcy is aided in his quest for justice by Forensic Sorcerer Master Sean O’Lochlainn.
In Garrett’s 1979 book of collected short stories, Murder and Magic, we find the story The Eyes Have It. First published in 1964, The Eyes have It presents a clear use of images to solve crime. The Count D’Evreux has been murdered, shot in his bedroom and Lord Darcy is sent to investigate. The evidence points in many directions, so in a last-ditch effort to get proof, Lord Darcy asks O’Lochlainn to pull the image of the murderer from the eyes of the deceased.
“…By using the proper sorcery, this image can be developed and the last thing the dead man saw can be brought out…”[iii]
The picture emerges warped and almost unrecognizable. Although the evidence cannot be used in a court of law, they need to know. This is similar to attitudes to photography in 1960s USA. Previously, photographs had been staged to manipulate emotions; for instance, the women murdered by Jack the Ripper were photographed in surroundings that made them look like they deserved to be murdered. It wasn’t until J. Edgar Hoover established the standards of crime scene photography, that photographs became forensic and useable as evidence in a Court of Law[iv].
1990s: Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett
Most of Terry Pratchett’s stories take place in the second world, fantasy land of the Discworld. His books master social commentary, so it is unsurprising that in one of his Watch series, he takes on increasing public familiarity with forensics, even before the start of the CSI series on television[v]. In 1996, Feet of Clay was published. Where previous Watch books discussed issues arising from the levels of diversity in employment, now, Commander Vimes wants to find and interpret evidence, so that he is arresting the people who commit the crime rather than picking someone randomly off the street. Pratchett introduces to us the forensic alchemist Cheery Littlebottom, a dwarf, who is expected to invent the tests Vimes needs.
‘Why are you takin’ pictures of the dead man?’ said Detritus.
‘Well, er, it might be helpful to see how he was lying.’[vi]
In this, Littlebottom is following the principles of forensic photography:
“While photographing the victims, location, injuries, and condition of victims should be highlighted.”[vii]
Following a standard set of rules allows the photographs to be admitted as evidence. By the 1990s these procedures, initially set out by J. Edgar Hoover, were second nature to any crime scene photographer. In this decade, photography began the transition from film to digital, allowing for a greater number of shots to be taken.
2020s: All Out of Leeds by Kim M. Watt
In the 2020s, the CSI Effect[viii] has taken over and everyone expects a full forensic presence for even the smallest crime. However, the urban fantasy All Out of Leeds, by Kim M. Watt, points out the expense of a full forensic investigation, as her main character DI Adams winces at the cost, as she requests a crime scene team from her boss.
Returning to forensic photography, cameras are ubiquitous in the modern world: on phones, computers, and street corners. In All Out of Leeds, a CCTV image brings Adams into a case of magical theft. As with the image from the 1960s The Eyes Have It, the picture is warped by magic. That said, the major advantage of digital photography is the ability to enhance the photograph far more effectively than with film[ix].
“It’s not the only file like this.”
Adams stared at her. “What, so someone’s going around injecting viruses into CCTVs?”[x]
While attempting to enhance the video, the nature of the corrupted files allows the technician in the forensic lab to link Adams’s case to another crime, caught on a different CCTV camera. Forensic photography has travelled from a last-ditch effort to find evidence, to the modern era of forensics, when it becomes far easier to connect crimes and reduce the wasted cost of two separate investigations.
Crime scene photography has come a long way since the limited acceptance of photographic evidence in the 1960s. Following the protocols set out by J. Edgar Hoover, gave the art a level of respectability for recording the crime scene. If you would like to read more books that include photography as part of the crime scene protocols, then Portrait in Death by J.D. Robb covers images from both the criminal and the crime scene team.
The final article in this series describes recovering evidence from the crime scene.
References
Garrett, Randall. Lord Darcy (FANTASY MASTERWORKS). Orion. Kindle Edition.
Gouse, S., Karnam, S., Girish, H. C., & Murgod, S. (2018). Forensic photography: Prospect through the lens. Journal of forensic dental sciences, 10(1), 2–4. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfo.jfds_2_16
Pratchett, Terry. Feet of Clay. Corgi. Paperback Edition. 1997.
Sayers, Dorothy L. Unnatural Death. Kindle Edition.
Staggs, Steven. 2017. Crime Scene and Evidence Photography 2nd Edition. p3. PDF. https://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/CSEP/crime-scene-and-evidence-photography-2nd-edition-complete.pdf
Talkdeath. (2019) Crime Scene Photography: A Complicated History. https://www.talkdeath.com/crime-scene-photography-complicated-history/
Watt, Kim M. All Out of Leeds: A DI Adams mystery - magic, menace, & snark in a Yorkshire urban fantasy (Book One) (p. 64). Kim M. Watt. Kindle Edition.
[i] If you would like to know more, check out this article. https://mozartcultures.com/en/forensic-photography/
[ii] Sayers, p194.
[iii] Garrett, p. 32.
[iv] Talkdeath. (2019)
[v] CSI started on television in AD2000.
[vi] Pratchett, p83.
[vii] Gouse, (2018).
[viii] The CSI Effect suggests that watching television programmes on Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) creates a bias in the minds of jurors about the value of forensic evidence. More here. https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/41331/chapter/352336326
[ix] Staggs, p3
[x] Watt, p64
© Copyright 2025 VJ Knipe
About the Author
Armed with a BSc Biochemistry, an MSc Forensic Science, and a thirst for knowledge, Malaysian-born, Scottish writer, VJ Knipe navigates the realm of fantasy with a touch of the uncanny in a handful of published fantasy books and foray into self-publishing. An avid canoeist, cake decorator, and DIY enthusiast, she's also a passionate advocate for autism awareness. Her current work-in-progress is a Police Procedural set on Mars and she has a long-running monthly forensic science article for an online magazine.