Multi-tone Images
A duotone is the generic
name for multitone printing, which can be done with two, three
or four inks. This process requires that the press be set
up with special inks, usually PANTONE-designated colors, instead
of the standard CMYK inks used for process color printing. Usually
the images are printed with a dark base color and a lighter second
color, overprinted to fill in, tint and tone the photo or graphic.
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Grayscale
Image
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Duotone
Image
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The original grayscale image.
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The original image as a Duotone using Process Black and PANTONE 725
CV (brown).
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Because
duotones require the use of a Spot color, they
are generally not accepted as supplied art. To
make the images acceptable for print production,
use Adobe Photoshop and convert the images to the
CMYK color space. Click here for
the procedure to accomplish this.
There are 4 types of
multitone images in all. Each one contains the number of inks
as the name implies:
Monotone
grayscale images printed with a single ink
Duotone
grayscale images printed with two inks
Tritone
grayscale images printed with three inks
Quadtone
grayscale images printed with four ink
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