by Barrie Schwortz,
July 4, 2021 (Updated September 30, 2021) See: https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/ProHawk%20Web.pdf
Also see: Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, Inc. (STERA, Inc.): https://www.shroud.com/stera.htm
ProHawk Press Release, ‘ProHawk Vision Shroud of Turin Ventral Image Research Project Results’: https://prohawk.ai/prohawk-vision-shroud-of-turin-project-results/
Below is a 2021 report from the Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, Inc. (STERA, Inc.) written by the late Barrie Schwortz, regarding a test applying ProHawk imagery enhancement technology on the Shroud, and its results.
I helped initiate this project after I reached out to STERA. I didn’t know where it would go, but here it is.
I got to know Barrie a little. I’m honoured to have known him. It was sad to hear about his passing. He died June 21, 2024. If there was anyone who knew the Shroud, it was Barrie. He was an expert in imagery and photography who had worked for NASA; he was the official photographer of the Shroud during the first in-depth scientific examination in 1978.
The first time we spoke over the phone, he told a colleague and me that it took him 13 years to realize that the Shroud is authentic —something he has said publicly. Barrie is Jewish. As he said, “I have no skin in the game.” He did say that part of his interest stems from Jesus being from his tribe. –RdM
In July 2020 I received an e-mail from Royce de Melo of Tactical Intelligence International regarding the
ProHawk video enhancement and analysis software that their company represents. They were interested
in knowing if their software could in some way contribute to the image analysis of the Shroud. They were
even gracious enough to offer STERA, Inc. a gratis copy of their software to explore its application to the
study of the Shroud. Unfortunately, their software requires a rather powerful workstation to run properly,
and none of STERA’s computers were up to the job, so I had to decline their offer.
Instead, they agreed to have their engineers apply their software to a digital, research quality image of the
Shroud that we would provide them. At that point we uploaded a 203mb TIF file of the Ventral Shroud
image in natural color to their Dropbox account. No processing of any kind had been applied to the image
and the TIF file was uncompressed. The file was so large that their software was having problems with it
(since it is much larger than the largest video image their software was designed to process), so they
cropped it into two separate sections showing the upper and lower portions of the Ventral image. This
reduced the file sizes and made them easier to work with.
At that point, we all hoped that their software might reveal something new about the Shroud’s image and
waited for their engineers to do the processing. Instead of applying arbitrary settings, they simply applied
a series of default preset filters that were previously tested and built into their program. In March of this
year they uploaded seven processed images to Dropbox, along with the software settings they used (in the
form of screen grabs in PNG image format) and a written overview of the work they had done. Basically,
they applied a number of the software presets that are native to and designed specifically for their program
to the image of the Shroud.
In my initial review of the processed images, I focused mainly on the Shroud image itself, looking for any
new information that might have been revealed by the processing. Of course, over the past few decades,
image processing technology has advanced dramatically and is readily available to everyone, so many
Shroud researchers have applied it to their studies of the Shroud. After closely examining the images, my
personal opinion was that there was really nothing new revealed by the new processing.
It was then that I noticed something I had missed in my initial review. In many of the images there were
obvious vertical lines running the entire length of the cloth that appeared to coincide with the banding
known to exist in the Shroud. Until now, this was best visualized in the transmitted light photographs I
made in 1978. Although the bands are not obvious in my natural light photograph, it appears that the
ProHawk software was able to detect and enhance the differences in the weave and make the banding
more visible.The original images ProHawk provided are very large (around 100 MB each) so I converted
them to JPEGs to reduce them in size for this article, although they are still around 38 MB each. Included
below are direct links to the two high resolution JPEG versions. Please note that it may take a few moments
to open and view them. If you wish to save the files for further study, simply right click over the image
once it is opened and chose “Save Image as…” to store it on your hard drive.
As an added benefit, the engineers kindly included screen shots of their software settings for each
processed image, so I am including them here for your information:
As I explained to the folks at ProHawk, in my opinion their processing didn’t reveal anything new about
the Shroud’s image, but it appears to have visualized in a new manner the banding that we already knew
existed in the Shroud. I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to Royce de Melo, Robert Brown and the
engineers and software designers at ProHawk for their generous offer and dedicated efforts in applying
their excellent technology to the study of the image on the Shroud.
ProHawk also provided a written report dated 8 March 2021 titled “Curious What the Details in the Shroud Reveal?” which I am including here:
Clearly one of the most, if not the most fascinating artifact to study in human history, according to shroud.com,
“The Shroud of Turin is a centuries old linen cloth that bears the image of a crucified man. A man that millions
believe to be Jesus of Nazareth”. Shroud.com has been shepherd by Barrie M. Schwortz, Editor, and photographer
of the most pertinent photographs permitted of the Shroud of Turin. He has likely been at the center, and more
involved in the hundreds of thousands of hours of thorough study and exhaustive research on the Shroud of Turin
than anyone. This article will describe the findings of one such research investigation conducted by Mr. Schwortz,
in collaboration with Royce de Melo of Tactical Intelligence International and Robert Brown of ProHawk
Technology Group.
The 14’5” long by 3’7” wide Shroud of Turin is kept in northern Italy at the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Turin,
typically only revealed a few times per century. The Shroud of Turin is a linen twill woven in an uncommon 3:1
under-over herringbone pattern, characteristic of expensive first-century Judean burial cloth. Linen is a fabric
made from threads of twisted flax fibers that thickness can vary significantly. The different lengths of threads are
not interwoven together, but rather laid in side-by-side during the weaving.
Royce de Melo of Tactical Intelligence International contacted the Shroud of Turin research organization and Mr.
Schwortz in early July 2020. Tactical Intelligence International works jointly with ProHawk Group and the imagery
enhancement technology. Out of interest and curiosity, Mr. de Melo offered Mr. Schwortz to try ProHawk to see
what the technology might discover on the shroud, if anything, and to see what effects the technology might have
on the shroud overall. In early August Mr. Schwortz replied to Mr. de Melo expressing his interest in trying the
image enhancement technology on the shroud.
The purpose of the charity research investigation was to see what details could be extracted from a sanctioned
Shroud of Turin picture using ProHawk Technology Groups patented computer vision pixel level algorithms in the
ProHawk Vision product. This is not the first time that the Shroud of Turin image would be enhanced using
computer technology to attempt to uncover details and facts not previously revealed or documented. This is the
first time the Shroud of Turin image would be enhanced and enriched using pixel level computer vision algorithms,
rather than full frame based post-production editing tools that enable color, contrast, hue, and brightness control
over an image.
The uncompressed 24-bit sRGB TIF image file provided to ProHawk of the Shroud of Turin is a Ventral Image as it
appears in natural light. The copyrighted Shroud of Turin 203MB TIF image is a whopping 5,829 x 12,177 pixel
vertical and horizontal 305 dpi resolution. To appreciate the enormity of the image, consider that it was taken in
1978, and the 5,829-pixel height is 35% taller than a UHD 8K video frame, and 58.5% wider. It took a little work to
get the complete image processed due to the unusually large dimensions of the image.
ProHawk Vision is a powerful computer vision system that contains pixel level algorithms that dramatically clarifies
imagery to expose the most intricate details. The computer vision algorithms run in parallel to process every pixel
of an image based on the interpretation and influence of surrounding pixels to reveal otherwise hidden details.
ProHawk Vision extracts fine details that may not be noticeable to the eye, even with the best of photography and
lighting. This is the case with the Shroud of Turin image, which was photographed with extensive care,
professionalism, and accurately placed lighting techniques.
The Shroud of Turin image was processed using 5 of the 14 one-click preset filters that quickly adjusted the
ProHawk Vision algorithms to the desired settings. The Shroud of Turin image was processed, and the 5 different
ProHawk Vision enhanced versions were saved. The team also saved the output in a side-by-side format, so the
original image and ProHawk Vision image would be easily compared next to each other. Once the image was
processed, the team set to analyzing the results.
Some of the results exposed many details, but these had been previously seen using prior techniques and
approaches. Upon further examination, there was 1 of the 7, in fact the 7th image, ProHawk Vision enhanced
images that exposed unexpected details and era specific craftsmanship. ProHawk Vision exposed darker and
lighter yarn bleaching and the era specific construction of threads that resulted in the thicker and thinner bands,
prevalent in the Shroud of Turin. This is most noticeable upon examination of the Shroud of Turin in the thicker
left side of the face imprint as opposed to the thinner right side of the face. More importantly, it revealed the
overlaid threads in the weaving from one thread to another to continue the pattern. This was the first time this
level of details has been exposed from the Shroud of Turin.
This research effort was pursued as a benefit by Tactical Intelligence International, ProHawk Technology Group,
and Mr. Schwortz to see if ProHawk Vision would reveal anything that has not been previously exposed. The team
was excited with Mr. Schwortz image analysis of the intricate details ProHawk Vision produced. The undeniable
details in the workmanship in the threads of the linen tying the Shroud of Turin to first-century Judea. Another
tiny piece in the puzzle surrounding the Shroud of Turin.
Four years ago, I asked Brian Holdsworth if he would be interested in interviewing Barrie Schwortz about the Shroud of Turin. I connected to two of them and here’s the result.
