The recognition of bloody footwear impressions at a crime scene is not an uncommon occurrence for the criminalist. Traditionally these impressions have been recorded by photography or videography either before and/or after chemical enhancement. Photography is an ideal method to begin with since it is considered to be non-destructive to the evidence. Chemical enhancement may improve the clarity and quality of the impressions as well, however, each enhancement technique may require additional skills of the analyst and/or equipment to appropriately document the evidence.
Knapp and Adach (2002) have written on the use of dental stone casting to record footwear and fingerprint impressions developed with various powders, but did not discuss blood impressions. In this paper the author has experimented with several casting materials on red colored concrete, fabric, and human skin, in an effort to transfer bloody shoe impressions onto a medium which offers better contrast for general photography.
(As this article does not contain an abstract, this abstract was created by editing the introduction.)