Halftone photography uses a halftone screen or electronic dot generation. The original halftone screen consisted of inked lines on two sheets of optically flat glass cemented together at right angles. The lines were the same width as the spaces.

Screens with a ruling of 60 to 100 lines per inch (lpi) are used to make halftones for newspapers. The dots are very coarse.

Screens with 120 to 150 lpi are used for magazines and commercial printing.

150 to 500 lpi screens are used for high quality process color printing.

The glass screen is now obsolete as most halftones are produced with contact sheets or are electronically created.

Digital technology has created new screening techniques that are computer generated. The best known is stochastic screening. Because the dots are random, moires that are generated by traditional half-tones are eliminated. Stochastic screening has not entered general use because some consider contrast and tone to be compromised by this technique. Almost all inkjet devices use stochastic screening.

Please call us anytime for linescreen/resolution advice. Different paper finishes have a tremendous effect on your printed image. Knowing which paper you will use will help define your linescreen.