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Thread: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

  1. #1

    Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    I do some screen printing on t-shirts from time to time. recently I decided I wanted to try making some shirt prints of my photography. I figured the new 4x5 material would be a great source for that. After a bit of reading, I've learned that the way that they used to convert negatives into half tones for printing in newspapers involved copying the negative using a special screen. Does anyone know if those screens are still produced, and where I could find them? evilBay doesn't have any right now, at least not under the keywords "half tone screen".

    Additionally, is anyone familiar with this process? I'd like some advice/pointers going in, if anyone has any to offer.

    I know I could just digitize the negative, use PS to change it to half tones, and then print on acetate, but where's the fun in that?

  2. #2
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    T shirt shops just scan whatever and make relatively crude halftone screens, typically for silkscreen frames. Some might still use old stat cameras, basically cheap
    versions of graphics art copy cameras. It's still an active industry with its own supply chain, some of which do advertise on EvilBay. I had a co-worker here that
    got into making custom sports uniforms that way, got rich too. Kinda boring otherwise. But you can take silkscreen technique as far as you wish, clear into a highly
    collectible fine art medium if you're good enough at it. Halftone just semi-automates the process at a more casual level.

  3. #3

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    Re: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    Photoshop will do it for you easily. You'll need to scan the neg, then print another neg on transparency material from the halftoned result, but that would permit you to enlarge it to any size your printer could handle.

    The other alternative of using a screen is equally or more laborious, so you might consider the scanning method.
    Thanks, but I'd rather just watch:
    Large format: http://flickr.com/michaeldarnton
    Mostly 35mm: http://flickr.com/mdarnton
    You want digital, color, etc?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stradofear

  4. #4

    Re: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    I want to do it the analogue way, though. I've done a little reading since I made the thread, and I have refined my question: you need a halftone screen through which you project a negative in order to make the halftone copy. Can I just print my own acetate halftone screen for projection, or does it need to have special material properties? Those that I saw on evilBay are only for polaroid cameras.

    edit: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Lot-of-5-Vint.../272183134950? Found these. Expensive. Anyone know how to properly value old contact screens?

  5. #5

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    Re: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    However you do it, the screen needs to be in very good contact with your print, not the neg, and the print is made on lith film (high contrast). For making a silk screen you need a negative, which means the origin piece for the lith negative needs to be a positive, which means you first have to make your neg into a positive, then use that to make the halftone. This is getting more complex than you thought it would be, or do you have another plan?

    Before you buy any screens, you need to find out what the right size is for silk screening. The coarsest one in that pile is 100, and I suspect that this is way too fine for silk. I am betting you want something around 40 or so---just a guess. Do you know? If not, you need to find out before spending a lot of bucks.
    Thanks, but I'd rather just watch:
    Large format: http://flickr.com/michaeldarnton
    Mostly 35mm: http://flickr.com/mdarnton
    You want digital, color, etc?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stradofear

  6. #6

    Re: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    No, I don't know. I appreciate this information you're sharing. I'm going to look into the elements which you have described. That resolution issue sounds like it might be a big one. I'll have to figure this out. Either way, I don't intend on spending a lot of money.

    Have you used the halftoning contact sheets before? What exactly do they look like? Could I not jury rig my own, if they're simply opaque plastic with holes?

    As for the positive/negative problem, can you reversal-process c41 B&W?

  7. #7

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    Re: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    You can print the halftone screen on an inkjet printer; I'd recommend that route. The UV sensitive dyes used for silkscreen are pretty high contrast, so you should be able to get by with an inkjet printed screen just fine.

  8. #8

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    Re: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    A millenia ago when I worked in motion graphics I used half tone screens for moiré animation effects,
    they're lith film with clear dots corresponding to the dot pitch.

    Like others have said you could use PS to generate your halftone screen and find a prepress service bureau
    that can print out a imagesetter negative.

    The screens that you found on eBay have a make an offer option, make an offer !
    Worse that can happen is they say no or counter offer.

  9. #9
    Jim Jones's Avatar
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    Re: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    Improvising and printing a quality halftone screen on a laser or inkjet printer may be deceptively difficult. As I recall from working in graphic arts long ago, halftone screens were not pure black and white, but dots graduating from black through grey to white. Another way of achieving similar results is printing with a screen that is all pure black and white, but separating it slightly from the light sensitive material so the out-of-focus dot edges provide the halftone effect. The size, distance, and shape of the light source all affect the quality of the halftone image made with this technique. Early halftone screens sometimes consisted of crossed Ronchi rulings used thus.

  10. #10
    Jac@stafford.net's Avatar
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    Re: Half tone screens and half tone negative reproduction

    Another solid gold post from mdarton. I would ask the Kodak screen seller for specifics and make him an offer.

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