Earliest Lincoln Photo

[STS Lincolnite]

(02-09-2015 11:42 AM)Houmes Wrote:  

(02-07-2015 05:08 PM)STS Lincolnite Wrote:  I'm sure most everyone on this forum has seen the daguerreotype that is purported by Albert Kaplan to be an 1841 image of Abraham Lincoln. I have never given it much thought in the past because, to my eye, there isn't anything more than a very slight resemblance to Lincoln. Today I came across Mr. Kaplan's website that claims the photo has been definitely authenticated as Lincoln. Dave Taylor and I have discussed photo identification in general before and he and I agree...research is one thing but when studying photographs the image has to look like the person it is supposed to be.

What do you think?

For a fascinating analysis of this image, get a copy of Face to Face: Analysis and Comparison of Facial Features to Authenticate Identities of People in Photographs by Joelle Steele. She got tired of using face recognition software (only compares a limited number of facial features) and about 25 years ago developed a system comparing 100 different facial features. She has an entire chapter on the Kaplan image.

Blaine, thanks for the reference to the book by Joelle Steele. Ms. Steele is the person whose website I referenced in post #3 of this thread. I did see that she had written a book. With your recommendation I will definitely give it a read!