Stochastic Printing, photo by Harold Davis.

Hi-Lites Magazine, published by the Lithographers Club of Chicago to aid growth and knowledge for the printing industry, is running my Papaver and Shadow as the cover of the current issue. The cover demonstrates the use of stochastic printing. It also features a subtle spot varnish on my flower, but not the rest of the image.

Stochastic printing, also called Frequency Modulation (FM) screening, uses dots that are all the same size but varies their density to create an image that is closer to continuous tone than conventional halftone processes. The distribution of the density of the dots is to some degree random, hence the reference to a stochastic process.

There are some significant advantages to stochastic printing compared to conventional printing. However, stochastic printing relies on extremely meticulous press work, and can in some situations show too much detail; for example, flesh tones can show imperfections. The process works best with imagery that starts with a very high native resolution.

I think my image looks great on this cover!

Related story: Hexachrome Color.