How to prepare and edit an image in Photoshop for Screen Printing

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By squareroot
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Photoshop Editing for Screen Printing

This tutorial walks you through the process of editing an image in Adobe Photoshop to prepare it for a one color silk screen. The actual silk screen process is explained in another article. You can find the other article explaining the silk screen process in the Resources section at the bottom of this article called How to Silk Screen.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Adobe Photoshop
Printer
Scanner (optional)
Transparency Paper/Film

Step 1

Open a photo you wish to use in Adobe Photoshop. I will be using a photograph of a car that I took in Germany.

*You can use a scanned image, or an image you found on the internet. However make sure you use a higher resolution image for better results. Also check with the owner of any image you use from the internet so you don't infringe on any copyright laws.
Step 2

Polygon Lasso Tool

Select the Polygon Lasso Tool from the Toolbox on the left-hand side.

*there are or coarse more advanced ways to create a selection, but to simplify this tutorial I will use the Polygon Lasso Tool as it is a fairly easy tool to use in Photoshop.
Step 3

Starting Piont

In this step I will make a selection of just the car portion of my image since I do not want the background part of this photo in my screen print.

Find a starting point in the photo and click to activate the Polygon Lasso Tool.
Step 4

Image Selection

Now piont any click around your image like you are tracing the image. Once you go completely around the image and get back to your start point. You will notice the Polygon Lasso Tool shows a small circle near where the mouse pointer is. This indicates the starting point and will close your selection when clicked. You will now notice a dashed line outlining what you have selected.
Step 5

Selection Inverse

Since I want to delete the background portion of the photo I will need to inverse my selection. Currently I have made a selection of the car in this photograph.

Go to the top Menu Bar under: Select>Inverse
Step 6

Inversed Selection of Car in photo

This does exactly what it implies, it inverses the selection. Now everything except the car is selected.
Step 7

Deselect

Now your ready to delete the background portion of this image. Make sure your background color is white and hit the delete button on your keyboard. Your background will turn white.

To deselect go to the top Menu bar under: Selection>Deselect
Step 8

Threshold Dialog Box

This process will prepare your image for a one color screen.

Next go the top Menu bar under: Image>Adjustments>Threshold

In the Threshold Panel use the slider to achieve the amount of threshold you would like. Make sure Preview is checked in the Threshold dialog box to see your results. Note that the black parts of the image will be the color of the screen printing paint you choose for your silk screen. Once you get it the way you want click OK.
Step 9

Save As

Now go to you top Menu bar under: File>Save As

This will ensure you are saving your edited image as a different file so you don't save over the original. I usually save to the Desktop so I can easily find my image.
Step 10

Now your ready to print on to your transparency paper/film. Just add your transparency paper/film to your printer and print.

*Your transparency paper/film should have a gritty side and a smooth slick side. You will most likely want to print on the gritty side. Read the directions of the transparency paper/film directions for proper printing.

*Some printer do not print on the same side that you put your paper in. To check this take a peice of blank paper and write UPSIDE on the sheet with a pen. Then place the sheet in the paper tray. Then print any image onto that paper. If it prints on the same side as the side you wrote UPSIDE on, then you know it prints in the same orientation. If it prints on the opposite side, then you know the printer flips the page, and or prints on the bottom side. This will help you place the trancparency in to print on the correct side.

*Most new printers show with a small icon on the printer paper tray the correct way to insert the paper.
Step 11

My next Article on eHow explains How To Screen Print. Click the link below located in the Resources section of this page.

How to prepare and edit an image in Photoshop for Screen Printing

Things You'll Need:

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