Photoengraving
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2009) |
Photoengraving is a process that uses a light-sensitive photoresist applied to the surface to be engraved to create a mask that protects some areas during a subsequent operation which etches, dissolves, or otherwise removes some or all of the material from the unshielded areas of a substrate. Normally applied to metal, it can also be used on glass, plastic and other materials.
A photoresist is selected which is resistant to the particular
In the graphic arts, photoengraving is used to make printing plates for various printing processes, reproducing a wide variety of graphics such as lettering, line drawings and photographs. Photogravure and screen printing are examples of such process.
The same procedure is used to make
Methods
One method of photoengraving produces a shallow depression in the
Another method produces a deep engraving with sloped shoulders. In this method, the metal (usually
In traditional print shop practice, a special very-
History
The first[citation needed] photoengraving process was developed in the 1820s by Nicéphore Niépce, which used photoresist to make a one-off camera photograph rather than a printing plate. His usual test subjects were paper prints of conventional engravings, and exposure was by contact under direct sunlight rather than by the use of a camera. Several metals were tried for the printing plate, as well as glass and lithographic stone. His first success came in 1822.[1] The earliest known surviving example of a paper print made from one of his photoengraved plates dates to 1825 and reproduces a 17th-century engraving.[2]
Niépce used Bitumen of Judea as the photoresist. Initially soluble in various spirits and oils, a thin coating of bitumen hardens (polymerizes) where it is exposed to light. The unexposed parts can then be rinsed away with a solvent, baring the underlying material, which can then be etched to the desired depth.[1] Niépce's process lay dormant for many years, but it was revived in the 1850s and bitumen was widely used as a photoresist far into the 20th century.[citation needed] Very long exposures in bright light were required, but bitumen had the advantage that it was superbly resistant to strong acids.[1]
The use of photoengraving for a halftone process that could be used to print grayscale photographic images dates all the way back to the 1839 introduction of the daguerreotype, the first practical photographic process. The daguerreotype image consisted of a microscopically fine granular structure on the surface of a silver-plated copper sheet that had been polished to a mirror finish. Methods were soon devised for differentially etching the image grains and the ground so that the daguerreotype could be used as a printing plate. In some instances, very pleasing results were obtained, but exceptional skill and care were required and the very fine structure of the image limited the useful life of each plate to a few hundred prints at best.
Henry Fox Talbot is usually credited with the first workable process for converting a grayscale image into a varying structure of stark black and white that resulted in a reasonably durable printing plate. As with other early halftone processes, the plate could not be combined with ordinary type, so for inclusion in a book or periodical each image had to be printed separately and either bound in or tipped in with an adhesive.
Frederic E. Ives is usually credited with the first commercially successful process that was compatible with ordinary letterpress printing, so that halftone blocks could be printed along with blocks of text in books, periodicals and newspapers. His process came into widespread use during the 1890s, largely replacing the hand-engraved wood and metal blocks that had previously served to provide illustrations.
As in many other fields of invention, there are conflicting claims of priority, instances of simultaneous invention, and variously nuanced definitions of the terminology, so sorting out the merits of the "first" claims made on behalf of the many inventors in the field of halftone reproduction—not infrequently biased by nationalistic sentiments—can be very problematic.
See also
References
Further reading
- Harry Jenkins, Stephen H. Horgan, Frederic Eugene Ives, Containing Practical Instructions for Producing Photoengraved Plates... , Chicago 1902.