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By Scott Fresener

Printing detailed, photorealistic images on dark shirts has always been the ultimate goal of
most garment screen printers. Yes, the bread and butter is in basic images (for most printers),
but there is nothing like lifting the last screen and seeing a masterpiece on the garment. It can
bring tears to your eyes!

But«« there is nothing like lifting the last screen and breaking down in tears because the
image just doesn¶t look right and you have no idea what to do next«..AND, the customer is
due to approve the print in ten minutes.

This article will detail how to do very respectable color separations and photorealistic prints
on dark shirts. I use the word ³respectable´ because no matter how much time I spend going
over the steps, there is still a learning curve. All of us who do high-end printing have learned
through years of trial and error and through many failures. If you follow these steps you will
be on your way to creating high-end prints. You just need to remember that with each job,
you will gain knowledge about what is important and what is not.

While this article will deal with some color theory, it is designed more as a primer to help the
average printer achieve results in a short time period without having to go back to college art
class.

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This term has been around for a long time. In simple terms, it is a method of printing
photorealistic images without using the standard CMYK separations. I like to say the image
looks like ³process color´ (CMYK), smells like process color but it isn¶t process color. In
fact ³simulated process color´ uses off-the-shelf inks that are standard opacity plastisols
printed on top of high opacity plastisol as a base or ³underbase´ (see Figure 1).

^


It is hard because again, we are trying to use standard inks and make the image print like
process colors. We are also printing on a base of white and trying to be faithful to the original
artwork. A tough task. One of the ³secrets´ of great simulated process color is that the print
needs to stand on it¶s own. This means that while it might be faithful to the majority of the
original art, it should be bright and detailed. How many times have you seen the ³original
artwork´ when you view the coveted Golden Image winners at the SGIA show? Never. I
think you might be shocked at the difference on some prints. Others, might match the original
but what you DON¶T see are the three or four attempts and screen re-burns it took to get to
that point.

I know this sounds negative, but it is the reality of working with so many variables like shirt
composition, ink opacities, poor original artwork and worst of all, high customer
expectations.

OK, enough of this negative talk. Let¶s get down to specifics. We will look at artwork
requirements, image adjustment and color separations, screen, ink, press setup and printing
requirements. This article was originally written in 2005 using Photoshop 7.0. Don¶t worry.
None of the steps have changed. Photoshop of cours is the program of choice for image
manipulation and color separations. All steps here will work with any version of Photoshop.

While it is nice to know how to do these things and this article deals with a LOT of items like
getting the image looking good before you separate it ± many artists just don¶t want to
remember all the steps and have opted for plugins for Photoshop that do this with the push of
a button. Check out my plugin T-Seps here if you want to see all these steps happen in a flash
before your eyes. Yes, this is a blatant plug. But you will learn a lot in this article about the
process, prepping artwork and more. This article is a must read if you plan to do higher end
photorealistic work.

This one is sometimes a real joke. How many times have you gotten a low quality JPG image
from a web graphic and been expected to us it as the artwork. Better yet, they give you the
CD label and want it on a shirt. When you see a magnificent print that has detail and edge
definition, it came from a magnificent original that had detail and edge definition. If you take
the 72dpi image that is the size of a wallet photo and blow it up to 200 dpi, you will have a
³soft´ 200 dpi image.

I deal with sample files from customers and students every day and I have to always ask, is
this all you have to work with? The answer is always, that¶s it!

Figure 1 - Click on images to see larger version. Use the BACK button to return to article.

Figure 2

Your original image should be from a good graphic, photograph, illustration, or image
created in a drawing program like Corel, Illustrator or Photoshop, that is the final image size
at a resolution of 200 to 250 dpi. Yes, it can be lower resolution but hard edges will be softer
(see Figure 2).
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We will be using Adobe Photoshop to do the separations and it then stands to reason that we
will use Photoshop to do the pre-separation image adjustment. In order to not make this
article an entire book, the following steps assume that you have done a monitor calibration
(detailed in your Photoshop manual).

Also, in order to preview the individual alpha channels (separations) correctly you must tell
Photoshop to display the image with the proper dot gain.

Go to å
t/Color Sett
ngs and under Work
ng Space, set Spot to 30%. Under RGB, set the
monitor profile to Apple RGB (see Figure 3).

3 3




The best images for dark shirts have good contrast. If the image has what appears to be
³black areas,´ make sure they ARE dead black by checking them with the Info Palette
W
n ow/Show Info). Dead black is ³0´ levels of RGB (see Figure 4).

It is also helpful to improve the contrast by applying an ³S´ Tone Curve adjustment
Image/A stments/Crves) (see Figure 5). Photoshop has a feature called  

Image/A stments/Ato Color). Auto Color improves contrast and color saturation (see
Figure 6). Very nice!

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If the image did come from a low quality JPG image, the ³boxes´ that are created by the JPG
routine averaging the color in areas will be GREATLY enhanced when you do color
separations. If your image does have blocky areas, you might actually have to soften these
areas before color separating (see Figure 7).

Photoshop has routines designed to improve/enhance JPG images and there are inexpensive
programs on the web called JPG Enhancement programs.

"



If you created the image in a vector program, make sure to NOT use Anti-Aliasing when
importing the image. The edges will become soft and this will show up in the final print (see
Figure 8).

Figure 7
Figure 8

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5
Figure 6

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Most images supplied by the customer need to be sharpened. I recently worked with images
from a ³well known theme park company´ who supplied images for cartoon characters to a
printer in Mexico City. All of the images were very soft and needed major ³unsharp
masking´ applied to them. The printer assumed that the customer knew what they were doing
and I had to work hard to convince them that typical artists don¶t really know what a screener
needs.

I rarely work on a design without first seeing if the image needs Î

# 
F
lter/Sharpen/Unsharp Mask).

OK, the name seems wrong, but Unsharp Masking sharpens areas of high contrast. Start with
settings of Amount 150%, Pixel Radius of 1 and Threshold of 5 (see Figure 9).

Then take the Amount slider all the way to 500%. You will be SHOCKED at the
improvement to some images. Others will get very grainy over 200%. Be bold here.

 $

 
%

If the image is going on black or dark shirt colors you will need TWO versions of the file.
One version is the normal image with white as the ³canvas´ or background. The second
version of the artwork has black around the image in the canvas areas (see Figure 10). This is
called a ³masked´ file and will be used for the underbase and highlight.

I spent a lot of time trying to explain why you need two versions of the artwork. The simple
answer is that to pull the colors from the image, you MUST have the background or ³canvas´
white. Otherwise you would not be able to create the ³color´ portions of the separations.

If the image is on a ³shirt´ color, the shirt color really has nothing to do with the color
separations.

In order to make an underbase of an image, the canvas areas MUST be black because you
will be making a grayscale of this image and it will be inverted. You don¶t want to print a
solid block of white around the image. Just buy into it and trust me on this.

The easy way to create two versions of the image is to build the image in Layers in
Photoshop and then create one version with a black background and another with a white
background (see Figure 11). Flatten the image and you are ready to separate.
Another method is to airbrush around the image with black or use the Magic Wand and select
the areas around the image and fill these areas with black. If at all possible, YOU WANT TO
GET THE ORIGINAL ARTWORK IN LAYERS from the customer if possible so you have
more control over these things.

 






Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

I like to joke that if the seps are done correctly, the printing is easy! Although this article
details how to do the separations, there are a number of automated color separation programs
on the market that do this for you. Many of these programs do a great job and will save you
hours of trial and error. In fact most go through hundreds of complex moves that would be
impossible to teach in a short article. Even if you have an automated color separation
program I think it important that you understand the basic steps so you will be able to know
about the inner workings of this process.
Keep in mind that color separators (myself included) who learned this process using filters in
a camera (years ago!), often like to use each of the Red, Green and Blue channels of the RGB
image and each of the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black channels of a traditional CMYK
image to ³build´ an image using all or parts of those channels for each color separation when
creating simulated process separations.

If you have a lot of experience, you can look at the individual RGB and CMYK channels and
determine if it in fact has the color information you need. As an example, the Black channel
of a CMYK image might be good enough (probably too weak) for the black plate of your
separations. The cyan channel probably has the ³blue´ areas. The yellow and red channels
might have information that can be used to make browns, etc.

Also, experience separators and the automated separation programs use the Photoshop
Calculations command to combine, exclude, subtract and do other manipulation of the
individual RGB channels (I will touch on this briefly later). This requires a lot of work, much
trial and error and a good experience level (can you say ³lots of failures?´). With that in
mind, this article will detail the easiest and quickest method to use and one that requires
much less experience.

Contrary to what you might think, the original image must be in RGB mode. You should
have the image open and the Channels Palette visible when doing the color separations.

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Images that go on dark shirts need an underbase of white ink (generally NOT a solid image),
and a Highlight White that is typically printed last. Yes, you need two whites but this is a
must.


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Open the ³masked version´ of the artwork (black around the image). Using Color Range
Select/Color Range) select just the white in the design with the eyedropper. Use the
F
ness slider to determine how much white you want. Remember, this just needs to be the
whitest parts of the image. It is a judgement call (see Figure 12). Too much and you will mute
down the colors when you print the image. Make sure Invert is checked. Say OK to the Color
Range window.

Save this selection as a channel Select/Save Select
on). Name this channel H
ghl
ght Wh
te
by double-clicking on the Channel Header (see Figure 13).

 
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By Scott Fresener on Aug 15, 2009 with Comments 1

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By Scott Fresener

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If you are going on a black shirt you will need an

underbase white. The underbase is the key to the image. If
it looks GREAT when printed, chances are the image will
look great! Working with the same file that has the new
Highlight White channel, select the entire image
Select/Select All). Copy this selection to Clipboard
å
t/Copy). Make a New Spot Channel (Horizontal
arrow in Channels Palette). Select new channel and Paste Figure 14
å
t/Paste). Deselect the image Select/Deselect), and
then Invert the new channel Image/Image
A stments/Invert).You will now have a grayscale of the
full image along with the highlight white channel (see
Figure 14).

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We aren¶t done with the underbase yet. A good underbase

is high contrast. Apply an ³S´ tone curve
Image/A stments/Crves) to darken the shadows and Figure 15
lighten the highlight areas. Play with this to give the
image good contrast (see Figure 15).

Your underbase channel is now a ³respectable´ underbase

but not yet complete. It will be flat and lack intensity
under certain colors like red and blue. You will need to
increase the density of the underbase under these colors.
For each top color you want to boost in the underbase, use
the eyedropper to select that color. As an example, for
red, go to Select/Color Range and select the red in the
image. Adjust the Fuzziness slider to pull the amount of
color you need (see Figure 16). Say OK to the Color
Range window.
Figure 16
Next, Inverse this selection Select/Inverse Select
on) and
then apply the selection to the Underbase Channel
Select/Save Select
on/Choose the new Un erbase
Channell/A to Channel) .

You can see that you now have much more ³white´ in the
underbase channel where the red of the image is (see
Figure 17).

Do the same for darker blue areas of the image. The

yellow, light blue, and green areas of the image should Figure 17
have enough white under them without boosting these
areas.

This is what the underbase will look like when printed

(see Figure 18).



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You will need to open the version of artwork that has

white in the canvas area for the next steps. There are two
different approaches to ³pulling´ the colors. The easiest
Figure 18
method is to use the Color Range tool to pull a color. This
works for many colors and also works well for non-
standard colors like browns, grays, and flesh tones.

The second approach works well for red, green, light blue,
dark blue and yellow.
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The Color Range tool is extremely powerful. Yes, it does

have limitations on colors that have many extreme shades
(greens and browns are VERY hard), but all in all, you
can use Color Range to ³pull´ specific colors.

As an example, to just select the red of our sample image,

go to Select/Color Range (make sure Invert is checked)
and use the åye ropper to select just the red from the Figure 19
image. Use the F
ness slider to determine the amount
of red you think appropriate (see Figure 19).

Yes, another judgment call. Say | to this window. Save

this selection Select/Save Select
on) as a new channel
(see Figure 20).

In order to ³build´ the separations and preview them

before you go to press, it is important to apply the
appropriate color and ink opacity to each channel as you
make the color separations. Figure 20

To apply a preview color you can either double-click on

the channel header and assign the proper Pantone(r) color
or you can hold down the Control ey (PC) or |pt
ons
ey (MAC) and double-click on the new channel header
(make sure that RBG is selected and that you have not
deselected the ³marching ants´). This will bring up the
Channel |pt
ons box. Click on the colored box and then
³sample´ the color you selected from the image at the
Foregron Color box on the Toolbar. Check Spot Color
and set Sol

ty to 5% (see Figure 21). Figure 21
Why 5%? We are trying to ³simulate´ on the monitor how
the image will look when printed. Standard opacity
plastisol has an opacity of about 5%. Use this as a general
opacity level for most colors. Use 100% opacity (solidity)
for black. Trust me on this««

You can now continue to build the rest of the separations

this way.

Select the RGB, use Color Range to pull a specific color,

Figure 22
make this selection a Channel, apply the appropriate print
color and ink opacity to the channel.



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These are hard colors. Browns can be yellowish, redish,

dirty and more. Flesh is based on the person¶s skin color
and to do it correct you generally need to pull more than
one shade.

*
 
Figure 23
As you can see in Figure 22, the horses have yellow
brown, dark brown, etc. It will be almost impossible to
use just one brown. If you can only print one brown, try
using Color Range to pull the main brown, but add to the
selection by holding down the Shift key and select other
shades of the brown with the eyedropper. The other
option is to print more than one brown.

+ 

Flesh is the same way. Use Color Range to pull the most
dominant flesh color. Use Color Range to pull a darker
flesh from the shadows of the image (see Figure 23).

When you see a great print with realistic flesh tones, they
have printed two and maybe even three shades of flesh.

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The Color Range command will also automatically

choose the red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and magenta
colors in the image. Go to Select/Color Range and drop
down the Select window. You will see a color list. Choose
Red. You will note that you now do not have any control
over the amount of red ± F
ness is not available. Make
sure Invert is checked and then say OK to this window.

Again, make this selection a channel Select/Save

Select
on). Notice that the red you pulled using the normal
Color Range/Fuzziness feature lacks a little of the detail
that the automated Color Range feature pulled. See Figure
24.

You can use the Automated Color Range feature to pull

the other colors. The cyan will be the same as light blue.
The magenta can be used for purple.
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If you want to play with the Calculations command

Image/Calclat
ons), open the RGB image and for the
Yellow separation, subtract Green from Blue, for Red,
subtract Red from Green, for Blue, subtract Blue from
Red (see Figure 25). This method will create a new
channel that will need to be inverted. You can start to
apply masks to channels and a lot more.

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OK, now you have the underbase, highlight channels as

part of the masked version of the artowork and all the
other colors as part of the unmasked version. You can
build the entire separation that allows you to preview the
image in Photoshop.

You can drag channels from one file to the other in

Photoshop. Open both of your working files. Select the
masked version with the underbase and highlight white
channels. Click on the underbase channel and drag it to
the unmasked file. Do the same for the highlight white.

Assign the underbase channel white as a display color,

and give it a solidity of 85%. White is NOT 100% on a
black shirt.

For the highlight white, assign it white as a preview color

and an opacity of 90%. This is about as white as it will get
when printed on the flashed underbase (see Figure 26).

Click and drag all the channels to the correct print

sequence. The underbase should be first (after the RGB
which we are done with). Next, put the yellow and then
go light to dark. Place the highlight white last and the
black channel next to last.

Make a channel for the Shirt Color.

Create a New Spot Channel and assign it the appropriate

shirt color. You will need to ³fill´ this channel with Black
å
t/F
ll/Black) for the shirt color to display in color.
Move the Shirt Color channel to above the underbase
white.

By clicking on the ³eye´ in the channel header, the

channel will display with the appropriate color (see Figure
27).

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The image should preview pretty much the way it will

print. We have told Photoshop to display the channels
with 30% dot gain applied to the display and we have
dialed in the appropriate ink solidity. If the image looks
weak with the eyes turned on, don¶t be shy. Select the
channel you think is weak and apply a Tone Curve
adjustment to it Image/A stments/Crves). By simply
clicking and dragging the mid-tone area of the curve, you
can increase or decrease the density of the color (see
Figure 28).

A good separator tweaks all the colors. Remember, you

will get more visible dot gain from darker colors (reds,
blacks, etc.) so the final print may end up darker than
what you see on the monitor.

+ 

You can print out each channel directly from Photoshop

or you can take this entire set of ³channel separations´
into Corel, Illustrator or Freehand by saving it as a DCS
2.0 file.

Everyone has their favorite screen frequency and angles. I

like to use an angle of 25 degrees for ALL the channels.
Again, trust me«.. You can use a frequency of 55 lip for
manual printing and 65 lpi for automatic presses. See
Figure 29.


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For best results use a pure Photopolymer or Dual-Cure

emulsion applied with just one coat on each side and
correct exposure. Use properly tensioned screens.

Put the white underbase and highlight white on a 180-230

(70-90 cm) mesh (the lower mesh is easier for manual
printing) and the top colors on a 280-355 (110-140 cm)
mesh. If you have limited experience printing with
halftone dots, make sure to hold all the dots on the films.
This may mean lowering your standard exposure time
when using the high mesh counts. Compare the films to
the exposed screen.

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Print the top colors with all purpose inks and the
underbase as a high opacity. Flash after the underbase.
Print everything else wet-on-wet. Print the highlight white
last with an all purpose mixing white (high opacity will
also work). The print sequence of the colors should be
light to dark. Of course dominate colors might need to go
later in the sequence.

Your underbase print needs to be clean. It may not be as

bright as you think. This is NOT athletic printing. Detail
and smoothness is the key. The highlight white will help
boost the white where needed.

Also, keep the top color prints clean. We are printing

halftone dots through high mesh counts.




If you work with a good piece of artwork, follow the

separation suggestions and print using the proper mesh
count and technique you should have a respectable print
the first time out of the box (see Figure 30). If the job is
critical and you have a lot of colors to match there may be
compromises. Obviously the more colors you can print
the better.

Good luck.

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