Opinions on team photo reproduction.

[John V]

I have an electronic copy of a team photo, only 1MB, that I would like to send off to be copied. What size is typical for actual vintage photos? (A fellow board member has one measuring 8 x 39.) Also, I assume most originals are glossy. Should I go glossy or non-glossy? Black and white or sepia toned?

Thanks, John

[drc]

What year is the team? Team photos came in a variety of sizes, so you can take a pick. For an example 11x14 inches is a standard modern photo paper size and is nice for display. 16x20 is another modern standard size. Some old team photos are smaller than 8x10." The famed 1887 Joseph Hall team cabinets are smaller than 8x10, but I've seen 1800s team photos both much smaller and as big as 20x20. If the reproduction is too large, you might lose some detail.

Have it reproduced in color, even if it's a black and white photo. It will look much nicer. Even old black and white photos have some tones and color to them which you want to preserve. Obviously 1800s photo are sepia. If you print it in black and white it won't look right.

Most old baseball photos have a gloss (1800s less so), but, as with size you can pick whichever you want if it's for your own display purposes. If you're doing this photographically, most modern photos are glossy as well. I have matte digital photos that look nice.

[John V]

The photo is the 1920 Columbia - South Atlantic League team. Zinn Beck, Goose Goslin are notables. The team is lined up, shoulder to shoulder showing head to toe of each player. So the format should be much longer than tall. Having never seen the original, I am curious about the typical measurements of this style. Having it reproduced in color is an interesting idea. I didn't expect to hear that.
John

[drc]

30+ inches to 40+ inches was the normal length for panoramas back then.

By color, I don't mean colorizing the photo so the uniforms are blue and grass is green. I mean that if you reproduce an old photo with black & white film or only black inks on a computer printer, it might resemble a Xerox . It will look better and more real when color film or multi-color inks are used. The original 1920s panorama would likely have a sepia tone to it-- so the original wasn't literally black and white ... I'm assuming your image isn't black and white.

Below is a color image of a sepia photo and a black & white image of a sepia photo.

[John V]

My photo was published in a period scorebook. A two page spread, I edited out the surrounding ads. By the time I have it reproduced, the quality may be disappointing. I better lean toward 30".

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by John V

My photo was published in a period scorebook. A two page spread, I edited out the surrounding ads. By the time I have it reproduced, the quality may be disappointing. I better lean toward 30".

If it came out of a publication you may not want to enlarge it that much. The print dots will also increase in size with the enlargement.

Did you use the Descreen function when you scanned it? That will help smooth out the dots a bit on the reproduction.