Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

The following paper was written and compiled by OIC Chairman Larry Rivera. 

The Man in the Doorway identified

                                    by Larry Rivera © 10/12/15

Abstract/Hypothesis:

The "Man in the Doorway" of the Altgens6 photograph can now be positively identified using modern computer graphics techniques. The techniques used here can be completely and reliably reproduced using the materials and methods described herein.

Introduction:

At 12:30 PM on November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in broad daylight on a street in Dallas in the presence of a multitude of people who were hoping to get a glimpse of him- the President of the United States- as he drove past them.

As soon as A.P. photographer Ike Altgens' 5th photograph (now known mistakenly as Altgens6) was published nationwide and around the world, many people noticed a figure in the background standing in the entrance of the Texas School Book Depository Building, who resembled the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. They matched both the man and the clothing; the obvious implication being that the image provided Mr. Oswald the perfect alibi.  

On the weekend of the assassination, the FBI was quick to proclaim that the man in the doorway was another TSBD employee, one Billy Nolan Lovelady. The issue was further compounded when the FBI photographed Lovelady on 2/29/64 in the shirt he claimed to have worn on 11/22/63, which was a short-sleeved vertical stripped red and white shirt, a shirt which in no way resembled the one worn by the man in the doorway.

Commission Exhibit 4576 found in Commission Document 457

Within months, Jones Harris would become the first person to commission special enhancement studies of the Altgens photo by having Bernard Hoffman scan the image and construct a mosaic which detailed every last pixel, which at the time technologically offered the most sophisticated enlargement for study.1 

According to Dom Bonafede, this exercise proved inconclusive because Harris could not obtain contemporary photographs of Lovelady with which to compare.2 

Lovelady and his employer fiercely resisted every attempt by
photographers to obtain images of the famous "man in the doorway".3

Lovelady claimed that he did not want some "crazy S.O.B. taking a shot" at him.4 

Despite all that, Mark Lane was successful in taking this photograph of Lovelady, some time after the assassination.

Even though the area in question in the Altgens photo is extremely small, one of the arguments of early critics was the fact that the shirt worn by Doorman very closely resembles and seems to match the shirt worn by the accused assassin Lee Oswald. 

Harold Weisberg was the first author to publish a 9 point study which documented these similarities.5

The FBI, the Warren Commission, and the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) never conducted reenactments of the figures in the doorway using the same
equipment and film Altgens had used that day. Weisberg complained repeatedly that they should have brought Lovelady with the shirt he claimed to have worn and simply stood him in
the doorway and taken pictures to settle the matter once and for all.6 

It was not until November 2012, 49 years later, that a Texas researcher by the name of Ralph Cinque decided to commission a thorough reenactment of Altgens photograph by utilizing the exact
same equipment, position, camera, film and focal length settings that Altgens had used.7

Cinque conducted his experiment at the exact same time of day that the photograph had been taken (12:30 PM) in order to ascertain the effect of the shadows cast by the figures seen in the doorway. Moreover, despite the passage of time, Cinque was able to prove the exact position of Doorman in the center of the stairway, standing on the landing that led to the glass
door of the front entrance. 

Because of the strange parallax effect seen in the photograph,
many had assumed that Doorman was standing next to the west wall of the entranceway.

But, that is a photographic illusion because Doorman was standing in the center, just as we see him at the start of the Wiegman film, which coincides closely in time to the Altgens photo.

The first clear enlargement of the photograph was later conducted by Robert Groden, where he also proclaimed the figure to be Lovelady.

Image Overlaying

The paragraphs below in italics are from "Face Recognition in Forensic Science (Part 1) page 4-5 : 


"An overlay of the scaled known image and the questioned image can then be made in order to determine if the relative alignment of other facial features is consistent. This overlay of images is also referred to as the superimposition method and can be performed with video editing or image processing equipment [19]."

" A variation of the overlay approach is a photogrammetric one: a side-by-side of the images is prepared and two sets of 3 or more parallel lines are drawn through facial features, such as the jawline, pupils, nasal bridge on both images and compared by position.[4]" 

"For both a photogrammetric and overlay approach, the images must be of the same perspective, but the key difference is that an overlay allows one to view the length and width simultaneously although viewing the lines in the photogrammetric approach leaves more to human perception as one looks across both images."

"Superimposition can appear to be doctoring the evidence if not properly explained because scaling implies changing the images to effect alignment, but the method is sound." (Emphasis ours) 

"Consider that if you scale an image of Abraham Lincoln to the same eye corner-to-corner distance as that of George Washington, that scaling will not force the length of the face or shape of the jaw to match up, and rightly so because they are different individuals. Just as scaling two images of Abraham Lincoln to the same interpupillary distance will demonstrate the similar locations of facial marks and the consistent sizes of facial features because the images do depict the same individual." 

"Therefore a superimposition can provide extremely beneficial information to determine if features appear to be the same and if the relative locations and dimensions relate. With an overlay, the examiner can “blink” back and forth between questioned and known imagery to assist in the comparison by identifying similarities and dissimilarities. In this type of comparison, facial landmarks, standard reference marks generally defined by the underlying structure of the skull [6, 10], are used in the main as guides and are not typically measured."

As far as we know, no researcher has ever taken the task of performing overlay experiments using the image of Doorman as a control image, and superimposing confirmed photographs of the two possible candidates cited by those on either side of the debate, Lee Oswald and Billy Lovelady. That has now been done. This paper will explain the procedure of image processing and overlay, and offer new empirical data that should enable us to make an informed decision as to the true identity of the Man in the Doorway.

Control or "Probe" Image (Doorman)

Materials and Methods

1. There are only two images in the public domain that offer the unique opportunity to perform overlay experiments on Doorman, because of the angle in which he is presented in the Altgens6 photograph, where he is showing the right side of this face and ear, which is an approximate 3/4 profile. Despite the fact that there are no images of our candidates which satisfy this criteria, there are two photos of them that offer the opposite orientation, which would be the left side of the face and ear. Assuming the symmetrical properties of human faces prevail in these individuals, when these images are flipped, we should be able to produce these two
workable facsimiles, which in forensic face recognition jargon is known as the "gallery." Note: these are flipped images:

2. The computer program which allows us to conduct these experiments is one which is extremely popular, powerful and sophisticated - Photoshop. Another very good and open
source program by the name of GIMP can also be used, however we have chosen Photoshop for this study because of our familiarity with the program.

3. A screen capture program which shows precise coordinates on a computer monitor is necessary to copy each individual rendition as the overlay is increased in opacity. In the case that an animation constructed from each progressive image is required, it is of utmost
importance to avoid shifting of the resultant images to provide a much smoother transition.

For our purpose we have chosen the program Gadwin Printscreen 4.7 (www.gadwin.com)

4. Optional. In case animation is required, as mentioned in the previous point, a very good open source program to use is Photoscape, which can be found here: www.photoscape.org

Procedure:

1. The control or probe (background) image of Doorman is opened in Photoshop, followed by the two gallery overlay images of Oswald and Lovelady that will be used for testing. 

2. In separate procedures, the image which will be superimposed, is selected with the select tool:

Alternatively, (above right) the user can right click on the image and select the entire image. The next step is to copy it into the clipboard, via Edit->Copy

Then right-click on the control image to activate, and paste the contents of the clipboard over the control image:

3. We have thus defined our first layer. We now move over to "Layers" at the top of thescreen. The definition and assignment of layers allows manipulation of opacity values of the test image which can be overlaid onto the control image. There are two ways to control this function: 
1. By directly entering the percentage value in the dialog box, or 
2. By sliding the control triangle right or left:

By slightly changing the opacity it is now possible to line up features. In this experiment, we lined up the eyes and ears, and sized the separation and angle to match the control image,
Doorman. At this juncture, the move tool is indispensable to tilt, size and move the overlay image to match it as much as possible with the control image:

4. Once satisfied with the position of the overlay, we are ready to start capturing the results. Unfortunately, this is not a function of Photoshop. In order to capture different degrees of opacity, it is necessary to use the screen capture program mentioned earlier, Gadwin print screen.  Gadwin will place the captured image into the clipboard. Returning to Photoshop, we go to File -> New

->OK to create the new image with the correct dimensions:

Paste the contents of the clipboard into Photoshop with Edit-> Paste. The process has to be repeated after every adjustment of the opacity levels mentioned above. In this experiment we went from zero (0), to 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%

and 30% opacity. After each capture, the opacity value is raised to the next level. Each resultant file is saved in jpeg format with a distinctive name which allows an ascending order:
(i.e.: LHO5%.jpg, LHO10%.jpg, etc)

By experimenting with the opacity levels it is possible to obtain as many different versions of the overlay onto the control image with varying intensities.

Results and measurements:

The following two collages show the results of our tests and procedures.

Billy Nolan Lovelady:

Lee Oswald:

Discussion:

After superimposing and overlaying both exemplars onto our control image of Doorman, it is clear that there is quite a bit of difference between one and the other:

Lovelady: When we align the eyes and ears and adjust the overlay to match the control image we note the following features that do not line up:
1. Nose is rounder and more bulbous. The bridge is different.
2. There is more distance between the lower lip and the tip of the chin which brings the mouth higher.
3. Eyebrows are more rounded.
4. Chin is pointier.
5. The forehead is swept back at a different angle.
6. Expression line present which is absent in Doorman. (It is important to point out here that the image is of an older Lovelady, which could account for this, however, CE4576 shown below shows the same expression line in the FBI photo of 2/29/64.

Oswald:
1. Nose matches, including bridge and general conformation.
2. Lips which are pursed in a particular manner, are a match.
3. Eyebrows are more horizontal and are a match.
4. Chin matches in size and shape.
5. There is no expression line which is also absent in Doorman.
(Note: Oswald had suffered a bruise over his left eye, which had caused swelling, and when the image is flipped, this area stands out somewhat but can be ignored for our purposes.)

Now, we'll look at overlays of the images, starting with Oswald. You will observe here a perfect overlay of the ear, nose, mouth, and chin between Oswald and Doorman. The eye would be a perfect overlay too if not for the swelling that is seen on Oswald:

Here it is for Lovelady.You'll see how, on him, it transforms into a bigger ear with thicker cartilage and lobule, a much more bulbous nose, a more pointed chin, and very signficantly: a wider space between the eyes and the eyebrows: 

And finally, here is the one of Oswald again in slow motion: Again, it's a perfect match in terms of facial contour, facial features, (except for the swollen eye) and even his facial expression. 

Conclusion:

The methodology used in this study and the empirical data derived, unequivocally prove that the Man in the Doorway really is Lee Harvey Oswald. The significance and implications of this finding
are beyond the scope of this paper.

Notes:
1. Dom Bonafede, New York Herald Tribune 5/24/64 "A picture with a life of it's own", page 2
2. Ibid page 4
3. Ibid. Francis Beckman, who had been sent by Harris to take a picture, was almost thrown in Jail for
"harassing" Lovelady
4. Ibid page 5
5. Harold Weisberg, Whitewash II 1966
6. Ibid
7. Cinque used a 35 mm Cannon camera similar to the 35mm Nikkorex camera used by Altgens, with the same 105mm telephoto lens and loaded with Eastman Kodak Tri-X film set at 30 feet focal length.