Image Treatment beginner graphicreducedpunchy

Posterisation

Posterisation example frame

Continuous tone collapsed to a few flat steps, so gradients become hard-edged bands.

What it does

Reducing an image to three or four tonal levels turns modelling into flat shapes with hard boundaries, which is exactly what a screenprint separation requires. The choice of where the thresholds fall determines whether the subject stays recognisable, and it is a judgement rather than an automatic operation. Shepard Fairey's Hope poster is a four-level posterisation with the levels chosen carefully by hand.

The prompt

[Subject] posterised to four tonal levels only. Continuous gradation collapsed into flat hard-edged bands with no dithering and no soft transitions anywhere, thresholds chosen so the subject stays clearly readable. Four flat colours, cream, mid-blue, deep red and near-black. Printed as flat screenprint passes on heavy uncoated stock.

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, Ideogram

Pairs with

Screenprint OverprintBen-Day Pop

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