Are these two photos legit?

[Dan O'meara]

This is an extreme close-up of the SN window in the Powell picture.
I was trying to make sense of the way the boxes that form the Sniper's Nest are arranged. Initially I thought there were two stacks of boxes to the east of the tall stack but now I think there are three stacks.
This means that by the time the Crime Lab came to take it's pictures, the two most easterly stacks of the SN had been removed. The crime scene was basically dismantled before the Crime Lab got to work.
While studying the picture I became confused by the dark area circled. It appears to be an object between the wall of boxes and the camera lens.
Walt has already put forward it is a rifle but it would be good to hear other thoughts:

[Dan O'meara]

Also confusing is the dark "object" picked out by the yellow arrow.
The green line represents the top of the window sill, but the "object" appears to be partially in front of the sill. I imagine it's some kind of artifact in the picture itself produced by using various filters.
It is confusing though.

[Dan O'meara]

The non-glare Powell photo shows more-defined shapes. You can see the box on the window sill has a small amount of its corner visible in the open window. Boxes behind the window sill are in the stack that was two feet back from the interior wall.

My model doesn't have the back stack exact. I have no real measurements.

Thank you Jerry, I think I get it now:



The dark patch is just the side of the top box in shadow. The top box is sat on a box that juts out, the same side of which is also in shadow.
The small, light triangular area is the corner of the tilted box on the ledge.
All innocent enough.

[Dan O'meara]

Studying the earliest photos I can find of the back "wall" of boxes that form the Sniper's Nest and am having problems understanding what I'm seeing.
Any thoughts would be helpful.
In the Powell close-up below there is a distinctive tall stack to the right and at least two (if not three) shorter stacks to the left.
The top box of the tall stack appears to be resting on a box that is jutting a bit further out:



In the Dillard close-up below, again we see the tall stack to the right and we can just about make out the corner of a shorter stack to the left just peeking above the sill in the east window.
This more front-on shot suggests there are only two shorter stacks to the left of the tall stack [it must be remembered that in all subsequent Crime Lab pics there is only one stack to the left of the tall stack. At least one stack has been removed IMO]:



However, in the Murray close-up below the box on top of the tall stack appears to be missing.
This pic was thought to have been taken at 12:42pm, little more than ten minutes after the assassination and at least 15 minutes before the SN is "officially" discovered:

pictures upload

Am I seeing this correctly?
If so, how could that top box have gone missing?

[Dan O'meara]

Studying the earliest photos I can find of the back "wall" of boxes that form the Sniper's Nest and am having problems understanding what I'm seeing.
Any thoughts would be helpful.
In the Powell close-up below there is a distinctive tall stack to the right and at least two (if not three) shorter stacks to the left.
The top box of the tall stack appears to be resting on a box that is jutting a bit further out:



In the Dillard close-up below, again we see the tall stack to the right and we can just about make out the corner of a shorter stack to the left just peeking above the sill in the east window.
This more front-on shot suggests there are only two shorter stacks to the left of the tall stack [it must be remembered that in all subsequent Crime Lab pics there is only one stack to the left of the tall stack. At least one stack has been removed IMO]:



However, in the Murray close-up below the box on top of the tall stack appears to be missing.
This pic was thought to have been taken at 12:42pm, little more than ten minutes after the assassination and at least 15 minutes before the SN is "officially" discovered:

pictures upload

Am I seeing this correctly?
If so, how could that top box have gone missing?

Have come across my first glaring error regarding my analysis of the SN "wall".
The answer to the question - "Am I seeing this correctly?" - is a big NO.
It's to do with the quality of the pictures I've relied on to make my assumptions.
On the Ed Forum I came across a far superior version of the Dillard pic:



This version shows that the top box of the large stack is partially in shadow and is, in fact, far wider than I'd first assumed.
So, in the Powell image, the top box, which I'd assumed to be in full light, is only part of the top box (the rest being in shadow).



It now appears there is only one stack to the left of the large stack and that is what is shown in the subsequent Crime Lab pics. My assumption a stack had been before the Crime Lab pics were taken is wrong.


LATER EDIT:

Hold the phone a second!
Just came across this Groden scan of the Powell pic on the Ed Forum:



Here we see the large stack, partially in shadow.
A stack to the left, then a clear dividing line between this stack and another stack to the left, which is only partially shown as it is cut off by the window frame.
However, this last stack to the left doesn't appear to be in the Dillard pic!

Back to square one.

[Dan O'meara]

Have come across my first glaring error regarding my analysis of the SN "wall".
The answer to the question - "Am I seeing this correctly?" - is a big NO.
It's to do with the quality of the pictures I've relied on to make my assumptions.
On the Ed Forum I came across a far superior version of the Dillard pic:



This version shows that the top box of the large stack is partially in shadow and is, in fact, far wider than I'd first assumed.
So, in the Powell image, the top box, which I'd assumed to be in full light, is only part of the top box (the rest being in shadow).



It now appears there is only one stack to the left of the large stack and that is what is shown in the subsequent Crime Lab pics. My assumption a stack had been before the Crime Lab pics were taken is wrong.


LATER EDIT:

Hold the phone a second!
Just came across this Groden scan of the Powell pic on the Ed Forum:



Here we see the large stack, partially in shadow.
A stack to the left, then a clear dividing line between this stack and another stack to the left, which is only partially shown as it is cut off by the window frame.
However, this last stack to the left doesn't appear to be in the Dillard pic!

Back to square one.

Epic fail again.
The line I thought was a dividing line between the two stacks is actually the shadow of the window frame -as seen in this Murray close-up:

pictures upload

I still can't figure out where the top box of the tall stack has gone in the Murray pic but I would imagine it's something quite straight-forward.