File:LeeHarveyOswaldChin.jpg

This is a composite image made from two images previously published by the government, which are both available on Wiki: One is Warren Commission image w:Image:CE746A.jpg supposedly taken by Marina Oswald of Lee Oswald on March 31, 1963 in the backyard of Oswald's Dallas home. The w:Warren Commission labeled this photo as exhibit 133-A. It was shown to Oswald after his arrest Nov. 22 and he claimed the photograph was a fake-- his head pasted on someone else's body. The other photo is w:Image:LHO14.jpg, the Dallas police color mugshot of Oswald the day after the assassination, Nov. 23, 1963.

I have used these photos to check conspiracy theory known as "Big Chin," which suggests the backyard photo is indeed fake, due to the chin being too square to be Lee Oswald's chin. For comparison purposes, I have:

1) Turned the Dallas mugshot to black and white, using a standard computer program.

2) Subjected the entire mugshot to contrast enhancement and whitening to mimic sunlight, and smoothing to mimic degradation of a poor longer-distance handheld snapshot.

3) For the backyard photo, I have used minor contrast-smoothing ("artificial fill flash") to remove some of the stark effect of sun and shadow in it.

4) Finally, I have cropped comparable sections from each photo and placed them side-by side.

I have not airbrushed or changed the chin area, or any other area, of either photo. All contrast manipulations were deemed "fair," as they were applied evenly to each image, and any of them might be mimicked legitimately by differences in sun, film, and photographic equipment and technique.

The result is available for the reader's judgement. To me, it seems obvious that Oswald naturally was possessed of a rectangular area on his chin which became more prominent with stubble, and which also stood out in conditions of downward lighting, such as sun. In the very high-contrast low-resolution backyard photo, this patch stands out (though lines can be seen), and the "point" of Oswald's chin simply disappears into the shadows of his neck. This is process is beginning to happen even in the mugshot, when contrast-enhanced.

Note finally that the light rectangular patch of chin-highlight is similarly off-center to the viewer-left in BOTH photos, a result of Oswald's irregular chin. The fact that Oswald's chin highlight appears left-shifted (to the viewer) with regard to the center of his face, has been used as evidence of a bad paste in the backyard photo. But exactly the same shift is visible in the Dallas color booking mugshot, which (to my knowledge) no conspiracy-theorist has yet claimed is also a faked composite.

The House Select Committee came to the same conclusion with regard to the backyard photo: [1]