Wide's World

Mezzotints

by

Widearea

Porno-Graphix

Mezzotint My World

In pushing the limits of the subject matter of graphics to far and perhaps extreme limits we will look at a few basic ways of creating a traditional mezzotint. The mezzotint in the realm of printed work is created with a halftone screen made of custom dot shapes. The screens then convert photos into tiny dots for printing with ink on paper. Looking at a newspaper with a magnifying glass will illustrate a basic halftone screen quite well. In digital image editing, we can simulate the effect of a mezzotint on screen. While we may really be pushing the envelope with this technique for real applications in adult webmastering, it is part of the designer's required knowledge and should not be overlooked. The effect could have applications in creating an illusion of that retro feeling for any graphic elements your site may require, and as always we encourage you to experiment and discover your own use for the tools at your disposal.

Ways to skin cats
Let's will look at a couple of methods for achieving a few different mezzotints.
1. Open an image that may be useful when a mezzotint is applied. The example that follows is perhaps not the best, nor does the column width of our DFN allow for the illustration of this technique, as the following techniques are best for larger reproduction sizes. But what the hell, we can sure as shit try.

2. Select Filter -> Pixelate and choose "Mezzotint" from the submenu, bringing up the Mezzotint dialog box.

Pick a dot, line or stroke pattern from the pulldown menu and select "OK/ENTER".

Diffusion Dither
1. Open your desired image.
2. Select Image -> Mode and choose "Grayscale" from the submenu.
3. Select Image -> Mode and choose "Bitmap" from the submenu, bringing up the bitmap mode dialog.
4. Enter an output resolution and choose "Diffusion Dither" from the method radio buttons.

Pattern Dither
1. Open your desired image.
2. Select Image -> Mode and choose "Grayscale" from the submenu.
3. Select a brush from the brushes palette as a pattern - Select Window -> Show Brushes.
4. Select Image -> Mode and choose "Bitmap" from the submenu, bringing up the bitmap mode dialog.
4. Enter an output resolution and choose "Pattern Dither" from the method radio buttons.

That was quite an excursion into basic mezzotints. As an advanced exercise, you can try to create your own pattern for the pattern dither method. Simply create your own pattern in a new document, select all (COMMAND/CTRL + A) and select Edit -> Define Pattern and continue with steps 4 and 5 above. While this week's lesson may not be of real interest to many adult webmasters, it can come in handy if you're making a living as a designer in both print and web graphic production. Until next time, Happy Webmastering!

Reference/Useful Links

Graphic Artists Nest Image Editing Plus - Free PS plugins and filters.