Screening technique modification and its effect on halftone print quality

Densitometry, spectrophotometry, profile making and other means comprise the powerful instrumentation for providing the proper quality of color reproduction. Various color strips and bars are effectively used for a printing stage normalization according to the recommendations of a standard. Effect of the screening process on a resulting quality is, however, mostly concealed within a total halftone imaging estimations. At the same time, the screening stage share in such parameters of a final print as tone rendition, dot gain, resolution, fine detail distortion, structure uniformity, moire characteristics, etc, can be evaluated with a minimum or even no relation to the other processes involved in an image reproduction. The problems are discussed of a proper selection the screening technique for a particular job or printing technology, of determining the basic parameters and their estimation criteria, of defining the development directions in digital screening technology.