How do I tell if 2 photos are the same person.

[Roobarb]

Could be due to what was mentioned in a previous post about the ears getting longer with old age!

                                                   
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,275394.0.html

[tinav40]

I'm really confused now .I was really hoping it was the same man as it holds the key to a very old family mystery. The more I study it the more they look the same. Wishful thinking?

[chinakay]

I've been playing with this a bit...I printed the side-by-side out and marked and measured the facial features. The length of the nose and the earlobes may change over life, enlarging a bit, but features such as distance between the eyes and ear, and length of the upper lip (called the philtrum ) do not.

The second photo looks like it has been enlarged to match the first, so it's not as distinct. Anyway, I was looking for a ratio, not raw numbers, because if you measure a large photo against a small photo you won't get the same numbers even if it's the same person. However, it seems I don't even have to work out a ratio because the heads in both photos seem to be exactly the same size.

So here are some numbers for you, raw. You can draw your own conclusions, everybody

Feature:                                                     Photo # 1               Photo #2

Distance from pupil to pupil:                          15mm                         16mm
Width of mouth:                                           11mm                         11mm
Length of nose
(from line drawn between
pupils to end of nose):                                  10mm                         11mm
Nose to chin (from came line):                       25mm                          25mm
Length of philtrum:                                         7mm                            6mm
Distance between tops of ear arch:                 37mm                          37mm

Over to you

Cheers,
China

[tinav40]

Wow China thats clever stuff.  Maybe I will never be 100% sure. Or maybe someone will come up with that elusive in between photo. You are all so helpful. Can't remember what I used to do with myself before I discovered Roots. I think it's him but maybe that family mystery will have to stay unsolved for a while longer.
Many many thanks Tina

[oldtimer]

China, you are so clever 

I think that the men are very similar, especially the baggy eyes and bushy eyebrows. Even the mouth looks the same to me.

If I had to give a definite answer, I would say it is the same man.

[tinav40]

Hi Oldtimer.
When all is said and done I think they look the same too. As I said there is about 40 yrs difference in the photos. Even the pictures of my mum when she was young look nothing like her in later life. I wonder if my G G grandchildren will be having this same conversation about me in 100 years time 

[Tricia_2]

... They are very similar it was just the eyes that didn't seem to look right. ... Tina

That's what I was thinking when I was studying them.

[tinav40]

I suppose in the later photo he looks like he is squinting a bit because of the sun. That could account for it. 

[Steve Ley]

To me the eye sockets and eye brows and just not the same, me and the OH don't think it is the same person. Sorry