Hi,
I already know a few folks that are on this list from the british-cars
mail list, but I thought I'd post some bio info and then ask a question.
I'm Bob Lang, editor for the New England Triumph newsletter. I've been
principle editor for over a year and I shared editing duties for the
prior 18 months. Time really flies when you're having a good time!
At any rate, we use Pagemaker 4.2 which is pretty good, no complaints
there and we do most of our work on Macs. This is principally (sp?)
because this is how the previous editor (Jeff Creel if anyone really
cares) did things. I use Photoshop to touch up the pictures and we
generally print to an Apple Stylewriter 1200 for master copies.
Here's the question:
We generally use Xerographic copying machines to create the 200-plus
newsletters every month. It works fine except our pictures almost always
lack detail and grey-scale quality. They usually look dark or too light
and they are always too contrastey (sp?). We've tried various settings
with photoshop etc, and the results are inconsistant.
Now, I realize that this is a function of the print process, but we aim
to keep the cost generally under $1.00 for postage and copying, and that
is tough with an average of 14 pages. Our postage is generally $.55, and
the printer (actually copier) that we uses gives us a price break at $.03
per side. That comes to $.97 per issue per member.
I know that linotronic output would probably get better initial print
quality, but the setup cost seems to be $5 per page, so that would
increase our costs to closer to $1.50 per issue per member. That is too
much money for our current budget.
So my question is: what are others doing to get "quality pictures" in
their newsletters?
I suppose another question is: Is the $.03 per page unusually low?
I get several newsletters from around the country, and I am generally
impressed with the quality that I see in newsletters such
as the "Triumph Tribune" of So. Cal. Triumphs and closer to home the
"Triumph Reporter" from Conn. Triumph Register. I would like to more
closely emulate the print quality from these newsletters, so I'd like any
feedback.
Also, if anybody can provide me with some guidance for getting the
contrast, density, gamma correction etc. for pictures that we manipulate
in Photoshop, I would greatly appreciate it!
Incidentally, we (New England Triumphs) like to exchange newsletters with
other clubs. If you wish to exchange issues with us, please let me know.
Of course we presume that you will reciprocate!
Happy Editing,
rml
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Bob Lang Room 11-221 | This space for rent.
Consultant MIT Computer Services |
Voice: (617)253-7438 FAX: (617)258-9535 |
url: http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/user/b/l/blang/www/home.html
Quote: You'll have to talk to my attorney about that topic...
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