Early Printed Newspapers faced a significant challenge: how to reproduce photographs. Unlike text, which could be set in movable type, images required a different approach. Initially, newspapers relied on a laborious and artistic method: wood engravings. These were essentially hand-carved copies of photographs, painstakingly transferred onto wood blocks and then printed. Imagine the skill and time required to recreate a detailed photograph by hand for mass publication!
However, by the 1890s, a revolutionary technique emerged that would change newspaper printing forever: halftoning. This process, remarkably similar to how images are printed even today, allowed for the reproduction of varying tones and shades in printed newspapers using patterns of tiny dots. These dots, differing in size and spacing, create the illusion of continuous tones when viewed by the human eye.
While the artistry and image quality of hand-engravings were arguably superior, especially in the early days, the halftone process offered a crucial advantage: speed and cost-effectiveness. Hand-engraving was time-consuming and expensive, making it impractical for the rapidly growing newspaper industry. By the 1920s, halftone techniques became increasingly sophisticated, striking a balance between image quality and production efficiency for printed newspapers.
For very high-quality printed materials like books, photogravure offered superior results. This process created ink prints with rich tones and fine detail. However, photogravure was too expensive and complex for the high-volume, low-cost world of printed newspapers, advertising flyers, and affordable magazines.
The ingenious process of creating halftones involved re-photographing an original photograph through a screen. This screen, made of glass and etched with a grid of tiny apertures, was placed between the photograph and a film or plate. When light passed through this screen, it broke down the image into a dot pattern. The film or plate was then developed at high contrast, resulting in dots that varied in size according to the light intensity of the original photograph. Darker areas became larger dots, and lighter areas smaller dots.
This dotted negative was then used to create a contact print on a metal sheet coated with a light-sensitive material. Exposing this sheet to light hardened the material under the dots. The unhardened material was washed away, and acid etching was used to dissolve the exposed metal between the dots. The result was a printing plate with a raised dot pattern. This plate could then be mounted on a printing press, alongside the text type, and used to print newspapers.
Halftone dots in a postcard of Carnoustie Links from around 1910
If you examine a printed newspaper closely with a magnifying glass, or zoom in on a high-resolution image, you can often see these halftone dots. The postcard image above, dating from around 1910, clearly demonstrates a simple single-screen halftone process. Notice how the image is composed entirely of black dots of varying sizes, creating the illusion of grayscale tones. There are no different shades of ink, just the density of black dots.
Later advancements in halftone technology involved using multiple screens with varying sizes and angles to improve image quality and tonal range. However, these more sophisticated methods didn’t become widespread until the 1930s, after the initial development of the core halftone technique.
By the 1970s, photo offset printing began to replace letterpress printing for printed newspapers. Offset printing transferred the entire page – text and images – photographically to the printing plate, streamlining the process. The introduction of CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key/Black) printing enabled color printed newspapers, but the fundamental principle of halftoning remained central to image reproduction.
Even in today’s digital age, where screens are ubiquitous, the concept of halftoning persists. Digital printing and display technologies still utilize dots or pixels to create images, albeit with far greater precision and control. The legacy of halftone printing, born from the need to reproduce photographs in printed newspapers, continues to influence how we perceive and create images today.
For those fascinated by the evolution of photography as a physical art form, “The Printed Picture” by Richard Benson is highly recommended. This book delves into various print processes from the Renaissance to the present day. For a deeper dive into newspaper printing specifically, exploring terms like “halftones,” “letterpress,” and “offset printing” will lead to further resources. Encyclopedia Britannica also offers a valuable article on photoengraving, providing more detailed information on this process.
