Dartmouth Scientist Uses Modern Technology To Authenticate Iconic Oswald Photo

November 6, 2009 10:51 a.m. EST

Hanover, NH (AHN) - Dartmouth computer scientist Hany Farid has new evidence regarding a photograph of accused John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Farid, employing digital forensics, believes the photo which many had said was faked was almost certainly not altered.

The famed photo in question is an iconic image of Oswald in a backyard setting holding a rifle in one hand and Marxist newspapers in the other. Oswald and others claimed that the incriminating photo was a fake, and pointed to the seemingly inconsistent lighting and shadows.

Farid added that federal officials long ago said that this image had not been tampered with.

The play of light and shadow was fundamental in the Oswald photo analysis. Farid, a renowned digital forensic expert, and his team used tools that measure statistical inconsistencies in the underlying image pixels, improbable lighting and shadow, physically impossible perspective distortion, and other artifacts introduced by photo manipulators. 

"The human brain, while remarkable in many aspects, also has its weaknesses," said Farid. "The visual system can be quite inept at making judgments regarding 3-D geometry, lighting, and shadows."

In a study and on a YouTube video Farid detailed how he constructed a 3-D model of Oswald's head and portions of the backyard scene. Using these computer models and simulated light he was able to determine that a single light source, the sun, could explain all of the shadows in the photo.

"If we had found evidence of photo tampering, then it would have suggested a broader plot to kill JFK," said Farid, who is also the director of the Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth. "Those who believe that there was a broader conspiracy can no longer point to this photo as possible evidence."

"It is highly improbable that anyone could have created such a perfect forgery with the technology available in 1963," said Farid. With no evidence of tampering, he concluded that the incriminating photo was authentic.