Skating on the Photoshop sliders

Recently a writer to one of the DTP/Publishing lists I subscribe to was having trouble coping with instructions from a printer that detailed their pic specs as no less than 5% highlight dot, 80% max shadow, and midtones of 35 to 40%. The printer then added that this particular press might want the midtones down by another 10 or 15%.

That seems like a lot of old newspaper presses I know. Though, on second thoughts, they'd be hard pressed to hold a 4% highlight dot. My instructions on one paper were to drag both sliders in Photoshop in significantly, then drag the gamma slider across most of the way: no point in talking numbers, this was like engraving with a chainsaw -- provided you could hardly see anything on screen, there was a chance the final result would be fine.

The really amazing thing is that the final results were quite good.

A man of the Internet age

It's still strange to think that as a result of this age of the Internet someone can be better known around the world than they are in their own town, but it seems that was true of David Ibbetson, an Englishman in Toronto who died on March 23.

Although in his 70s, David, better known as "The Ib", was active on many email lists, those discussion groups which provide a unique method of self help in many fields. He was a member of the Copy Editing List, the PageMakr List (which is where I "met" him), the Stumpers List (which refuses to be beaten by any question), G.A.S.P. (which stands for Grammar and Spelling Patrol) and others. He was also a member of MENSA.

It was only after he died that I found he had served in the British Army, with the Special Air Services Regiment, but I did know that he was a statistician who loved the English language and the use of words. He had become an email voice held in high regard by editors and writers for his ability to express ideas simply with a sharp wit. When David wrote, you read.

David became sicker and less mobile and admitted in a private email that he was feeling older than his years. He was often unable to sleep, and therefore was often the first to reply to questions on many lists. It may be an appropriate tribute that for a man who stated he could not cook, that the Copy Editing List will dedicate a cookbook they are preparing to the Ib.

Because his only living relatives are all in England, there was no funeral service. Members of the Woodsworth Housing Co- operative, where he resided for the past 20 years, will hold a memorial meeting to honour his life and work on Sunday, May 15, 2005, starting at 2 p.m. in the Co-op's Penthouse at 133 Wilton Street (one block east and south of the St. Lawrence Market), to which all who knew him and wish to join in honouring him are invited.

Donations in David's memory can be made to: Rooftops Canada -- www.rooftops.ca Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto Charitable Fund -- www.coophousing.com