Are there any expert Bigfoot photo analysts in the US or Canada?

[Explorer]

If somebody gets a photo of a bigfoot and wants it analyzed by an expert, to whom should it be sent for analysis?

 

This question pertains to photos that are obviously not humans in a costume. Most photos of humans in bigfoot costumes are easy to detect and you don’t need a photo analyst to tell you.

 

I also would like to exclude the Patterson-Gimlin film from this discussion since that film has generated many so called experts over the years. Although, if there is a PGF expert who has broad expert photo analysis skills and is willing to look at other photos, then that is something to share with the community at large.

 

I see lots of YouTubers commenting and offering their opinion on videos and photos. Some of them do some rough calculations, but not sure how many of these are professional photo analysts (that would pass peer review).

I would expect that besides evaluating a photo for hoaxing (computer generated imagery), the photo analyst would also be calculating/estimating the figure’s height, limb ratios, etc.

 

I don’t think sending a photo to BFRO or other BF research organization will ensure the best analysis. I don’t see a lot of photo or video analysis coming out from these organizations.  BFRO does point out hoaxes in their Facebook page, and that helps the community to avoid wasting time.

While it is best to find somebody outside the BF research community (to be totally objective and non-biased), somebody outside the BF research community will not be aware of all the key measurements of limbs/torso ratios that are of interest to generate a likelihood that the target is not human.

 

It appears that there is no central organization or person in North America designated as the clearing house for what photos have merit.  Seems like the what is available is various competing YouTube channels.

 

In the UFO research community, Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos (a Spanish researcher) stands out as the creator of the largest database UFO photos available.  He has been collecting UFO photos, their narratives, and their analyses since 2000, and created the UFO FOTOCAT BLOG (see link below).  Granted, while most of these photos are either hoaxes or misidentification, at least his database offers a repository so that future researchers do not waste their time.

 

https://fotocat.blogspot.com/

 

[Catmandoo]

Film or digital?

[Explorer]

2 hours ago, Catmandoo said:

Film or digital?

 

I believe most of what is being photographed today is digital (from game cameras, drones, cell phones, security cameras, thermal imagers, etc.).

[7.62]

here

[Catmandoo]

12 hours ago, Explorer said:

If somebody gets a photo of a bigfoot and wants it analyzed by an expert, to whom should it be sent for analysis?

 

Is this a general post for everybody and your stuff?

It is possible to scale targets in your images before and after an event.

If you send your image(s) out for forensic analysis, the EXIF data may give up your location via GPS coordinates. There is software available to remove your GPS location and even add a spoof location like Area 51 or Wrigley Field.  1060 W. Addiston St. is a proven decoy location.

[Explorer]

1 hour ago, Catmandoo said:

 

Is this a general post for everybody and your stuff?

 

General question for everybody.

 

1 hour ago, Catmandoo said:

If you send your image(s) out for forensic analysis, the EXIF data may give up your location via GPS coordinates. 

 

That is the question; who is doing any forensic analysis of BF photos that is credible and would pass peer review?

 

Edited January 28 by Explorer

[Twist]

With the possible exception of Bigfoot history and lore,  I do not believe there to be any Bigfoot experts period (yet).  As you stated though, many claim to be. Who and what can be trusted in this field………find you history/lore expert and you’re probably in for a dysfunctional ride regrading  this subject! 
 

However there are experts in fields that do/could pertain to Bigfoot research and discovery.  

 

Taxonomy experts

Iconography experts

Zoologists

etc…..

 

 

[Huntster]

1 hour ago, Twist said:

........However there are experts in fields that do/could pertain to Bigfoot research and discovery.  

 

Taxonomy experts

Iconography experts

Zoologists

etc…..

 

With regard to photography, forensic analysis is an area of expertise (and perhaps the only one) that applies to purported photos of sasquatches, and there are actually many forensic analysts out there both currently working and retired. Their ideological foundation is in both Science and Law; they apply science in the pursuit of legal proof. 

 

Indeed, legal proof may be the *adjective* evidence needed at this point. Most other scientific fields are now fully subject to law and political science. For example, both biology and psychology in the theater of human gender have become (or, more accurately, 'rendered themselves') irrelevant to law and political science. A legal decision that sasquatches exist in a particular photograph may be all the "proof" one needs to ascertain existence. 

[Explorer]

@Twist, while I don't disagree with you that there are no BF experts in general, in this case I agree with @Huntster that photo analysis is an area of expertise that could be applied to BF research.

 

I would expect that a photo analyst will have domain knowledge on photographic equipment (lenses and other technical specs of many types of cameras), optical science, differences between visible spectrum, IR and thermal imagery, how to detect computer fakery, how to extract useful information from image.  In addition to all this general photographic knowledge, then they will need more specific knowledge on the key parameters of BF physique that BF researchers focus on (the limb ratios, relative torso dimensions, height ratios, etc.) so as to make a judgement call on how anomalous the target is. I would imagine that for the analysis to be fruitful, the photographer will also have to provide to the analyst the distances from camera to target, photos of area in clear daytime view without target, and maybe a photo replicating the position of target with a human.

 

I don't have any expertise in photography or optical sciences, but if I wanted somebody to analyze a photo (not a close up of a BF posing but one that is ambiguous and requires analysis), then I would expect that a photo analyst might be able to help and provide some expert opinion.  Rather than let the masses on a public forum opine.  Some technical aspects of photography are not just up to voting and are discernable with science.

 

 

Edited January 28 by Explorer

[Huntster]

1 hour ago, Explorer said:

........In addition to all this general photographic knowledge, then they will need more specific knowledge on the key parameters of BF physique that BF researchers focus on (the limb ratios, relative torso dimensions, height ratios, etc.) so as to make a judgement call on how anomalous the target is..........

 

I believe that after a forensic analysis of the photographic science of the photo itself, an analysis of the subjects physical attributes would be best handed off to specialists like primatologists or anatomists to review and opine. We have seen this with the PG film, and the ream approach is precisely what strengthens the films status.

 

Quote

........I would imagine that for the analysis to be fruitful, the photographer will also have to provide to the analyst the distances from camera to target, photos of area in clear daytime view without target, and maybe a photo replicating the position of target with a human.........

 

Now I believe you're back to needing a criminal forensic site analysis, which is also a field of expertise with many current and retired practitioners. 

 

Obviously, of the three analysts so far mentioned (photographic, site, and anatomy), the site analysis is the first one critical to conduct in a timely fashion due to conditions changing so quickly. The film itself and the subject seen on the film have no chronological haste necessary. Moreover, prompt site analysis even provides the possible opportunity to catch the subject still in the vicinity. Notably, site analysis is the consistently absent, tardy, or shoddy review in the vast majority or sasquatch reports of all types. 

[Catmandoo]

3 hours ago, Explorer said:

I would imagine that for the analysis to be fruitful, the photographer will also have to provide to the analyst the distances from camera to target, photos of area in clear daytime view without target, and maybe a photo replicating the position of target with a human.

 

Pocket rod or surveyor pole and open reel tape. One wanders around in the near field and far field while holding the scale tool in vertical and horizontal positions and stopping at many locations after setting up the camera and also on the return trip to service the camera. A distance value from the camera can be determined  with the open reel tape. The camera mount has to register the camera back to the mounting position. In case of an event, overlay images and keep the scales, keep or delete the human.