Get advice to help you create your t-shirt graphics. Discuss t-shirt design software, special effect techniques, or other topics related to creating a t-shirt design on your computer. If you'd rather hire a graphic designer to do the work for you, please post in our Referrals and Recommendations section here.
Re: converting a b&w photo into a 2 color halftone
1. Choose Image > Mode > bitmap
2. choose Halftone Screen from the Use menu; then click OK. The Halftone Screen dialog box opens.
3. For Frequency, enter a value for the screen frequency, and choose a unit of measurement. (for me, using a 160-mesh screen I go 50 Lines per Inch. For 280 or 305-mesh, I use 55 LPI)
4. Enter a value for the screen angle in degrees (56 degrees should work pretty well for what you're doing)
5. Choose the dot shape (I use elipse)
6. Click OK
Now you'll end up with an image with black dots on a white background. If you need to remove the white background, convert it back to Greyscale mode, unlock the 'background' layer (double click on it in the 'layer' pallet), select the magic wand - set Tolerance to '1', uncheck 'Contiguous', and click anywhere on the white background. When your computer is ready, press ctrl-x to 'cut pixels', and the white will all go away leaving only the black dots. Then you can do a color overlay to change the color of the dots if necessary.
Oh, that's for CS2... I'm not sure if everything is exactly the same in other versions, but should be close.
Re: converting a b&w photo into a 2 color halftone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheepsalt
1. Choose Image > Mode > bitmap
2. choose Halftone Screen from the Use menu; then click OK. The Halftone Screen dialog box opens.
3. For Frequency, enter a value for the screen frequency, and choose a unit of measurement. (for me, using a 160-mesh screen I go 50 Lines per Inch. For 280 or 305-mesh, I use 55 LPI)
4. Enter a value for the screen angle in degrees (56 degrees should work pretty well for what you're doing)
5. Choose the dot shape (I use elipse)
6. Click OK
Now you'll end up with an image with black dots on a white background. If you need to remove the white background, convert it back to Greyscale mode, unlock the 'background' layer (double click on it in the 'layer' pallet), select the magic wand - set Tolerance to '1', uncheck 'Contiguous', and click anywhere on the white background. When your computer is ready, press ctrl-x to 'cut pixels', and the white will all go away leaving only the black dots. Then you can do a color overlay to change the color of the dots if necessary.
Oh, that's for CS2... I'm not sure if everything is exactly the same in other versions, but should be close.
Thanks for the reply,
Whats the price difference (if there is one) between 160-mesh and a 305-mesh, also, I'm using 200DPI.
Last edited by dsclothing; May 20th, 2008 at 12:56 PM.
Re: converting a b&w photo into a 2 color halftone
Yes, 305-mesh is more $$ than 160, but you'll get allot smoother gradient with 305. Check some of the vendors listed in the left column. I've used silkscreeningsupplies.com and gotten good service from them in the past. The screens are also cheaper when you buy more of them.
I set my files in PS to 300dpi to get smoother edges, but don't confuse dpi with lines-per-inch. If you go too high on lpi when you do the half-tone conversion you won't get a good screen - each dot has to be larger than your screen's mesh count or it won't work. 55 lpi seems to work pretty well for top colors, 50 lpi for underbase.
converting a b&w photo into a 2 color halftone 
