Halftone

n. middle-tone, shade or value between dark and light (Art); technique in which shadows are reproduced as tiny closely spaced dots (Printing); print made using this technique

Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous tone imagery through the use of equally spaced dots of varying size. 'Halftone' can also be used to refer specifically to the image that is produced by this process.Where continuous tone imagery (film photography, for example) contains an infinite range of colors or greys, the halftone process reduces visual reproductions to a binary image that is printed with only one color of ink. This binary reproduction relies on a basic optical illusion—that these tiny halftone dots are blended into smooth tones by the human eye.
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Noun
1. a print obtained from photoengraving
(hypernym) engraving
2. an engraving used to reproduce an illustration
(synonym) halftone engraving, photoengraving
(hypernym) engraving

Any photomechanical printing surface or the impression therefrom in which detail and tone values are represented by a series of evenly spaced dots in varying size and shape, varying in direct proportion to the intensity of tones they represent. [JP1]

<graphics> The reproducion of greyscale images using dots of a single shade but varying size to simulate the different shades of grey.
Laser printers that cannot print different sized dots, halftones are produced by varying the numbers of dots in a given area.
This process is also used to produce a black and white version of a colour original using shades of grey in place of colours.
See also device independent bitmap.
(1996-09-20)