The grids I provided to Mark for his work are very easy and inexpensive to make. All it requires is that you print out a grid or grids in any size you need to work with and then make a copy of it using a transparency made for use in copiers. These transparencies can be purchased at most office supply stores (make SURE they are the ones for use in printers/copiers).
Use of the grid system on a transparency allows for their use right on a computer screen or on top of the actual image or images you might be working with. Not only does it allow you to better focus on a single common point of reference, but it also facilitates your ability to assess vertical and horizontal alignment of various facial features in a comparative manner. Lastly, the grid system forces you to look at an image closely in its entirety, which helps to counter our natural tendency to either focus on the central area of the image or scan it in a sub-conscious “Top to bottom-Left to right” manner.
Without getting into painful detail, this simple grid system really represents an integral part of automated query, search, and compare functions found in modern facial recognition technologies. Prior to these functions being automated and supportable by searchable common data bases, use of grids like these and other similar tools is how intelligence folks did a lot of this work back in the day.
Dave Grob
Dave
Grob1@aol.com