Print Process beginner softcheapperiod

Dot Gain

Dot Gain example frame

Ink spreading into absorbent paper so every dot prints larger than it was made.

What it does

On uncoated or newsprint stock, ink wicks into the fibre and a 50 percent dot can print at 70, so images print darker and muddier than the file. Experienced printers compensate in the separation by lightening the midtones. Reproducing an image without accounting for it is the single most common reason a digital mock-up looks nothing like the printed result, and reproducing the effect deliberately is what makes generated imagery read as genuinely printed.

The prompt

[Subject] printed with heavy dot gain on newsprint. Midtones plugging up so the whole image sits darker and muddier than intended, shadow detail closing to solid, halftone dots visibly spreading and touching. Slight show-through from the reverse of the sheet. Ink wicking into the fibre so every edge is very slightly soft. Coarse screen, single black.

Replace [Subject] with what you are shooting. Everything else is deliberate: the gear, stock and lighting are what push a generator towards this look.

Works well in

Midjourney, FLUX, Stable Diffusion

Pairs with

Coarse HalftoneCMYK Misregistration

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