A method and an arrangement for recording intensity patterns occurring on a contact surface by frustrated total reflection, particularly for low-distortion recording of relatively large-area fingerprints, handprints or footprints or other parts of the skin. It is an object of the invention to find a novel possibility for recording intensity patterns occurring on a support surface according to the principle of frustrated total reflection which achieves a high-resolution, low-distortion image of the intensity pattern using simple optical arrangements. This object is met, according to the invention, in that a support surface for the measurement object is illuminated homogeneously by a light source at an angle of total reflection, an image of the support surface is imaged on the image sensor as an intensity pattern only by of an imaging optical system, so that the image is imaged on the image sensor so as to be distorted but sharp in all parts of the image, and light from the light source which is totally reflected at the support surface enters parallel to the axis of the optical system, the image of the support surface is scanned by the image sensor with substantially more image elements (pixels) than those required for the desired resolution in the output-side final image of the intensity pattern, and the optoelectronically converted, trapezoidally distorted image is rectified by displacement, interpolation and averaging operations based on the generation of combined pixel data from a data surplus occurring as a result of the increased quantity of recorded pixels compared to the necessary quantity of pixels in the final image.