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GoaliGrlTilDeath β Creating a CMYK Halftone Effect in Photoshop
Published: 2012-05-20 23:20:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 28339; Favourites: 269; Downloads: 480
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Description
Look! A tutorial!
I've been working on a MASSIVE Illustrator tutorial, but in the meantime I thought I'd make this tutorial. I've used this several times at work and always end up having to comb Google to remind myself how it works. So, to save myself and you time and energy, here's how!
If you're curious as the what the heck I'm talking about in that intro with CMYK and printing and whatchamacallit, here's a good explanation of what I couldn't explain: Marvin's Corner: Halftones and CMYK Printing , or, we could rely on good ole' Wikipedia .
stock image used:
If you guys have any ideas for other types of tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign that you'd like to see, let me know. I'm well versed in all three and I enjoyed making this!
Edit: Um, wow! I didn't expect to get 42 favs in two hours! Since I can't thank you all personally, seriously, THANK YOU. I appreciate that you think this is helpful enough to save it for future use! And also seriously, suggest ideas for future tutorials!
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Comments: 42
I updated the deviation so the link above is dead, here is the new link Β Β Starfleet Acedemy Poster
Thank you again! Great tutorial and exactly what I was searching for, this is a great tool to have in the tool box.
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Glad it was helpful for you!
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Amazing!
This is just what I was looking for and worked like a dream.
You are a total legend!
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Thank you! Glad it was of use to you. It's a tricky process if you don't have a guide
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Thank you! You are very welcome!
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Hi, I've tried this, and the result were great! Thanks for the tutorial!
But I have a question, each of my photos are in different sizes.
How do I make sure every dots is the same size in different photo size?
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Are you trying to do a manipulation after applying the effect, or are you using multiple photos with this effect in a layout?
If it's the first, I'd suggest leaving this to the very end; do your manipulation, merge your photos and as the last step, make it half-tone.
If you're using the effect on multiple photos in a layout, you'll need to resize the photos to their final size and then use the effect. Unfortunately it's not an effect that scales well, as I'm sure you're discovering!
And thank you very much! I'm glad you've found this useful
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You are very welcome! I'm glad you like it
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thanks again 
they said it was great!
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Sure, that's fine! You can use this technique wherever you'd like. I certainly don't own it, I just explained it!
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Great work! I was just wondering what was that pattern in some printed photos hahaha now I know it, and I know how to do it!
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Yup! Usually printers don't want you to actually SEE this pattern because seeing it means the print quality isn't good, but that doesn't mean you can't make use of it for artistic effect
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I can't wait for the day when Magazines can print in higher quality than CMYK though...whenever I scan pictures off a magazine, I always have to Gaussian Blur it to get a solid image. :/
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Tisk tisk. Scanning magazines is copyright infringement. Tisk tisk tisk
There are processes out there that are more than four colour-- the wide format printer we use at work is 8 colour and we'll be replacing it with I believe a 16 colour version soon. Even for large press printers you can include individual "spot" colours to your print, however that all costs money. 4 colour printing allows for full colour with the fewest number of colours used, meaning fewest screens, meaning lowest cost.
TL;DR: Once a process is developed where additional colours didn't cost more money, we might see that but right now not cost effective
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Unreleased material is mostly kept in private collections.
Here's hoping that day when cheaper and better quality printing methods comes.
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Eeeh its sticky. It depends on how you use it, what portion is being used, and a lot of factors. Reproducing anything for your own use, for money or not, is typically a copyright violation unless specific permission is given. Educational settings are a bit different if it is for instructional purposes and only a certain percentage of the work is reproduced. π: 0 β©: 1
Generally you can get away with using things for non-monetary purposes, but under current US Copyright laws if they really wanted to come after you for using stuff without permission, they typically can. They probably won't, but they legally can. Does that make sense? At work we tell all of our clients that unless we have something in writing from the original copyright holder, we will not allow anything containing copyrighted material to be reproduced.
'Course, that's the real world, and this is the internet, and the internet is a free-for-all, right?
Well, most of the stuff I have is artbook stuff or stuff that can generally be found on the source material's official website.
In my case, I already asked, and that was the response they gave me...plus I'm spreading hype and information regarding the material they made by doing so, so they don't mind.
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Now this might come handy! Thank you for sharing.
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I'm glad 
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Looks awesome! I've always wondered how to pull off this effect without using the Photoshop filter, since of course filters aren't commendable in many situations, haha. I may have to try this out some time, and use it in a future project.
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Yes, the halftone filter is kind of a false advertisement-- it only does two colours and not the full 4-colour spectrum that a true halftone has. This is one of the ways you'd do an actual separation if you were to be printing or screen printing something. Yay for authenticity!
Hopefully it comes in handy for you
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Yay for authenticity indeed!
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Oh! forgot to say⦠I think in step 7 points 4 and 5 should be inverted⦠reverse selection and then apply the mask, no? is what I did
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You can do it that way, yes. I prefer to invert my mask instead of the selection because it's hard to tell which way those marching ants are selecting to me 
And I'm glad I satisfied an old, forgotten need. That's me! Helpful, if not a little late
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ΓΆ I've never tried inverting a mask!
Nawww, still useful!
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I enjoyed this! I wondered how to do this effect some years ago and couldn't find it! now you have satisfied an old forgotten need
Here, I tried it: [link] c:
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Thank you! I hope it can be useful to you
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Thank you! Glad it's of value to you!
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You're very welcome.
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I'm such a geek for stuff like this. Thanks for the awesome tutorial!
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You're welcome 
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