Are you a Crime Scene Photographer?

What kind of photographer would you call yourself? Have you ever thought of specializing in crime scene photography? Up until a couple days ago, I thought of myself as a nature photographer at heart who occasionally did some portrait work to help pay the bills. Not once, had I thought I would be interested in crime scene photography. I prefer cute deer and lovely wildflowers bathed in golden light not harsh scenes of death bathed in blood. Handsome (my husband) challenged me to see how crime scene investigation might fit into how I approach a photography scene. After doing a little research on crime scene photography at How Stuff Works, I discovered that I might be an amateur crime scene photographer after all--minus the blood, guts, bodies, and bullet casings. Let me compare what I would call the haphazard photographer with the crime scene photographer. Then you can tell me if you too are a crime scene photographer.

For this blog, we will pretend we have been given a photographic opportunity to take pictures of an old and very photogenic barn. The haphazard photographer would find the first parking place possible, as close to the barn as possible. Little to no attention would be given to how that affects the photo opportunities for herself or others. She knows the shot she wants and she is going in for the kill. *pardon the pun* The other photographers be damned. As soon as her car rolls to a stop, she gets out of her car, throws her camera on a tripod (maybe), grabs her bag of lenses and make a beeline for that picture. After photographing the barn for a while, she feels she is ready to explore other options. Tired of carrying around her camera bag, she lays it down next to the doorway of the barn so it will be easy to find when she comes back for it or needs to change out lenses. A short while later, the day has warmed up, so she hangs her sweater on a nearby tree limb. If she has been using a tripod, she may have grown tired of schlepping it around and leans it against a fence post. Meanwhile, she continues on to her next shot, leaving the beautiful scene filled with her jettisoned supplies. If this were a crime scene, it would be considered contaminated and it would no longer present the truth of what was found when one first approached the scene. Not to mention, she is now being followed by an angry mob of fellow photographers who are tired of waiting for her and her stuff to move out of the way as the golden light turns to the harsh play of light and shadows that is common with the midday sun.

Now let's compare the haphazard approach with the crime scene photographers methodology. Before arriving at the scene, the crime scene photographer creates her list of pictures she wants to take. This information is gleaned from images of the subject posted on Flickr, social networking sites, Google images, and if it is a landmark location, websites about the subject. This list will include the obvious pictures to take, the less obvious, and even a few creative approaches. After all, a forensic photographer has to make sure she has every piece of evidence to show the court or the hearing may lead to a mistrial. Upon arriving at the scene, she parks her car away from the subject and the surrounding area. Tire tracks through a crime scene would be bad, but even worse would be a car sitting in the middle of the barnyard while trying to get every angle of the barn and the surrounding fields. After parking her car, we see her get out and her eyes scan over the scene as she begins to pull out her camera and tripod. A tripod is a must, because clear pictures with no image blur and as little noise as possible (low ISO settings) are needed when presenting the pictures to the jury.

Once she is set up, she slowly approaches the scene looking for the wide open landscape shots. In crime scene photography, these pictures are referred to as overviews. They tell the story from a distance, from overhead, and from each corner of the scene. Landscape shots also help the photographer start to be more in-tune with the scene and all the storylines it has to offer. Starting with an outwards in approach is also more pleasing to the other photographers who may have accompanied her and would like to have at least a few pictures without her standing in the middle of them. Also, each time she takes a picture, she takes care to set her bag of lenses nearby out of the way of others. Now that she has her overview shots, she picks up her camera bag and is ready to move in for some of the more intimate landscapes or what a forensic photographer would call the mid-range pictures. These are the ones that start to tell the relationship of one thing in the scene with another. In this case, it might be a picture of the hay loft with light streaming in or the front of the barn seen through the spokes of the wagon. By this time, the golden early morning light is starting to turn to the bright mid-day light. Time for her to start focusing in on the macro shots or the minute details a forensic photographer would call the close-up images. Finally, she has all of her shots and breakfast has worn off long ago. It is time to wrap it up and head to lunch. As she walks back to the car, she checks to make sure she has not left the crime scene contaminated for the next photographer who comes along.

So what say you? Are you the haphazard photographer that leaves the scene contaminated and fellow photographers ready to create a crime scene out of frustration? Or are you the crime scene photographer who gets dynamic pictures while taking care to not contaminate the scene and works to make sure any fellow photographers have the chance to take a few landscape pictures without you being in the way? Personally, I know there are times I get so involved in my photography that I do not realize I have lapsed into being the haphazard photographer everyone dislikes. It is my hope that with time and opportunity to hone my skills, I will become an amazing crime scene photographer. Minus the blood, guts, bodies, and bullet casings, that is.