Techniques/Chemicals Used to Develop Prints

• Nonabsorbent, hard, and smooth surfaces usually use powder dusting to develop the prints while porous and soft surfaces usually require chemical treatment to develop prints.

• Powder is used that with the color that provides the best contrast against the surface the prints were left. They are usually applied with a fiberglass or camel-hair-brush, but sometimes magnetic powders are applied with a magnetic brush. There are many different powder colors and they range in composition. Black powder is usually made from charcoal/carbon, these are commonly used on white surfaces. There are also grey powder that are typically made from powdered aluminum which are used on black surface, but sometimes they are applied to metallic/mirrored surfaces. Sometimes fluorescents are used to be seen under black-lights.





Developing Fingerprints with Dusing Technique

• Chemicals are used on latent prints. A common method and also the oldest method is iodine fuming. Silver nitrate, ninhydrin, and other chemicals are also used in the development of prints.

Developing Fingerprints with Iodine Fuming Technique