the problem is i can take a photo of a man with receding hair, a large nose, and superimpose it over noonan’s photo and decrease the opacity, and have it ‘match’ and i can take any woman’s photo who is the same size as ameilia’s and measure from shoulders to hips and say it’s her if the measurements are close- most women her size will have the same body type- nothing unusual about it-
The conclusion should have been “Intriguing, but far to little to make a determination on- far too many people fit the same dimension- we can’t say with any degree of accuracy if these are noonan and amelia- but it’s possible, given what was presented us”
[[To the defense of the expert, he didn’t go to his highest degree of assurance.]]
He went with ‘very high’ degree- i disagree- I think it’s more ‘a slight chance- given the lack of details and the fact that many people fit the profiles of both- we just don’t have enough to state with any assurance that it is them- could it be? Sure- could it be two completely different people? You betcha”
Yes but his highest category was 'extremely likely.' He hedged on his conclusion. I was surprised by his statement because if this was such conclusive evidence, I would have expected the expert to use his highest degree of assurance which is extremely likely. He made a definitive statement early (which might have been edited to make it appear stronger than it was) but when asked for his professional opinion, he ratcheted it back.
It is matter of opinion. I'm certain, given more time, the expert could have gone into much more detail about why he concluded what he did. The methodology isn't as easily corrupted as you suggest - certainly, other experts would spot the manipulation. There is a reason these experts get paid good money by court participants, museums, collectors, the government, and others to validate photographs. This expert might not have applied A-1 techniques and/or allowed his objectivity to be compromised but the methodology isn't that flawed. On the other hand, it is generally not conclusive by itself.