A method for comparing a search print image comprising a first plurality of minutiae to a file print image comprising a second plurality of minutiae and the apparatus implementing the method is provided. The method includes the steps of: aligning the search and file print images; obtaining the first and second plurality of minutiae, a first plurality of pseudo-ridges generated from a first direction field of the search print image and a second plurality of pseudo-ridges generated from a second direction field of the file print image; for each aligning of the search and file print images, generating a pseudo-ridge score, and determining a minutiae matching score; and providing, based on the pseudo-ridge and minutiae matching scores, an output that indicates a level of similarity between the search and file print images.