Queries and Answers: Look Alikes

Andrea wrote: Between my second cousin and I, we have about a dozen photos of two sisters that are two years apart in age, b. Dec 1865 and Feb 1868. We have a few that we are certain are a one or the other but all of these are after the women are 40 years old. It is the ones in their twenties and younger that we are having trouble with. Any suggestions in how to distinguish two women that look very much alike? Absolutely! Facial features to compare are eyes, noses, mouths and especially ears. A person's ears are unique. Look for all the minor details in a physical characteristic such as size and shape. It's usually the simplest things that differentiate between people that look alike such as the tilt of a nose or and fullness of a person's lips. The new iPhoto software and Picasa (a free download from Google.com) offer facial recognition software. Before jumping to conclusions make sure that all the other evidence in an image adds up to the same identification.