Vintage LIFE Baseball Photos: Donn Clendenon

RECENTLY I CAME ACROSS some vintage LIFE baseball photos on Google Images, including this outstanding image of former New York Mets Donn Clendenon. Having been born after the '69 Mets made history, looking at a photo like this is the closest I'll ever get to experiencing baseball before my day--the wool, the felt letters, the high sleeves, the tiny wristband, the thin cap. But it's quite obvious that the photo needed a bit of optimizing in order to make viewers feel as if they're standing right there next to Mr. Clendenon. So I decided to optimize the photo using three adjustment steps in Photoshop that I typically use with vintage photos in order to get more accurate colors. These steps aren't necessarily all that I would use to optimize a photo professionally, but they help give me a quick look at a photo's restoration potential. This is not a tutorial, but rather a quick step thru of the process leading to the final result.

STEP 1: Adjusting light levels

STEP 2: Adjusting Color Balance

STEP 3: Adjusting Saturation

After

Before

(NOTE: It is not my intent to use these photos without permission, but rather through what I consider to be "fair use", I'm posting these photos for those who share an appreciation of vintage baseball photography. For this reason, I have posted smaller, low-resolution photos than the originals.)