Zanko
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2007
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Thank you to all you websleuthers who are also interested in helping identify the Jane and John Does and to help find missing people!
I often look through unidentified and missing websites, in the hopes to match someone missing with someone unidentified. I would like to understand why, so often, there is only ONE photo of a missing person? I would also like to know why, very often, there is only one angle of an unidentified person? I have compared actual photos to real people and it can be very difficult to recognize a person from their photo. Having only one angle to look at only adds to the uncertainty. I see ID photos on a regular basis and many times I honestly cannot tell if it is the same person standing in front of me. I would like to suggest to LE, anyone who has anyone missing and websites that show missing and unidentified people to provide as many pictures as possible, preferably with different angles of the face shown. Although disturbing to many, when there is a possibility of photographing a recently deceased individual that has not been identified, I would recommend taking pictures from many angles of the face. I think that this would help to eliminate or include possible matches for amateur sleuths, like myself.
I'm finding that a large percentage of missing persons' photos have an odd angle that is difficult to compare with the head on shots taken by LE of unidentified people. It also seems that loved ones often pick very favorable photos of their loved one, which often are portraits taken by professionals. It seems to me that it is very rare that these photos are straight on photos. Photographers take pictures of people looking over their shoulder, leaning on a hand, tilting their heads...creating shadows that can be difficult to interpret (such as shape of nose).
One of the things that I have done, in my pursuit to help match unidentified individuals with those listed as missing, is to measure the distance between key points of the face and compare these between Jane/John Does and those missing. Of course with different angles, these distances appear different even amongst known photos of one individual.
In one case, I saw a face that looked very familiar to me, but I wasn't sure. I looked all over the internet for another photo of this missing person to see if a different angle would help my memory; There were several websites showing her photo, but all used the same photo.
In another case, I compared a Jane Doe to missing people for months before someone at WS posted a link to another site that provided a photo of a different angle of this Jane Doe's face. It showed a very different look than the first photo.
I have looked at photos of friends and family and come to the same conclusion: People photograph differently in different circumstances, different lighting, with different expressions...
How often do loved ones of a missing person post a photo of the missing with their eyes closed and their mouth relaxed (without a smile)? It is very difficult to compare a photo of a recently deceased, unidentified person with a photo of someone beaming into the camera. Not too many people pose for photos where they are not smiling, but people are often caught in "candid" moments without a smile. I would like to see more of these candid shots included in missing person's postings.
Does anyone have a suggestion about getting the word out to LE and agencies that work with missing individuals that multiple photos would help with the identification process?
Does anyone have any ideas about why this isn't happening now? Am I not considering something obvious? I know there are cases where there honestly isn't additional photos of someone, but in this day and age I guess I'm assuming that this would be unusual.
Thanks!
I often look through unidentified and missing websites, in the hopes to match someone missing with someone unidentified. I would like to understand why, so often, there is only ONE photo of a missing person? I would also like to know why, very often, there is only one angle of an unidentified person? I have compared actual photos to real people and it can be very difficult to recognize a person from their photo. Having only one angle to look at only adds to the uncertainty. I see ID photos on a regular basis and many times I honestly cannot tell if it is the same person standing in front of me. I would like to suggest to LE, anyone who has anyone missing and websites that show missing and unidentified people to provide as many pictures as possible, preferably with different angles of the face shown. Although disturbing to many, when there is a possibility of photographing a recently deceased individual that has not been identified, I would recommend taking pictures from many angles of the face. I think that this would help to eliminate or include possible matches for amateur sleuths, like myself.
I'm finding that a large percentage of missing persons' photos have an odd angle that is difficult to compare with the head on shots taken by LE of unidentified people. It also seems that loved ones often pick very favorable photos of their loved one, which often are portraits taken by professionals. It seems to me that it is very rare that these photos are straight on photos. Photographers take pictures of people looking over their shoulder, leaning on a hand, tilting their heads...creating shadows that can be difficult to interpret (such as shape of nose).
One of the things that I have done, in my pursuit to help match unidentified individuals with those listed as missing, is to measure the distance between key points of the face and compare these between Jane/John Does and those missing. Of course with different angles, these distances appear different even amongst known photos of one individual.
In one case, I saw a face that looked very familiar to me, but I wasn't sure. I looked all over the internet for another photo of this missing person to see if a different angle would help my memory; There were several websites showing her photo, but all used the same photo.
In another case, I compared a Jane Doe to missing people for months before someone at WS posted a link to another site that provided a photo of a different angle of this Jane Doe's face. It showed a very different look than the first photo.
I have looked at photos of friends and family and come to the same conclusion: People photograph differently in different circumstances, different lighting, with different expressions...
How often do loved ones of a missing person post a photo of the missing with their eyes closed and their mouth relaxed (without a smile)? It is very difficult to compare a photo of a recently deceased, unidentified person with a photo of someone beaming into the camera. Not too many people pose for photos where they are not smiling, but people are often caught in "candid" moments without a smile. I would like to see more of these candid shots included in missing person's postings.
Does anyone have a suggestion about getting the word out to LE and agencies that work with missing individuals that multiple photos would help with the identification process?
Does anyone have any ideas about why this isn't happening now? Am I not considering something obvious? I know there are cases where there honestly isn't additional photos of someone, but in this day and age I guess I'm assuming that this would be unusual.
Thanks!