Halftone is how every newspaper, magazine and comic was printed for a century: continuous tones simulated by dots of varying size, dark areas getting big dots and highlights tiny ones. Up close it is abstract geometry; at a distance it is a photograph. As an effect it delivers instant print-era character.
Dot size controls the screen coarseness — small dots read like quality magazine print, large dots like a blown-up newspaper photo or Lichtenstein painting. Contrast tunes the tonal mapping, and the Keep color toggle switches between classic black-ink halftone and a colored-dot version. Free, no signup, and everything renders locally in your browser.
How to add the halftone effect to a photo
Tips for the best halftone look
- Big dots + a tight crop of a face = instant Roy Lichtenstein homage.
- Halftone thrives at large export sizes — print it as a poster and the dots become the art.
- Try Keep color ON with medium dots for a retro color-magazine print feel.
Halftone effect — FAQ
How does halftone printing work?
Printing presses cannot print gray — only ink or no ink. Halftone screens convert tones into dots whose size varies with darkness: your eye blends them back into continuous tones at viewing distance. This tool performs the same conversion digitally.
What dot size should I choose?
It depends on output size: for social media, 5–8 keeps the image readable; for posters and art prints, 10–20 makes the dot pattern itself the aesthetic. The preview updates live, so experiment.
Why do artists love halftone?
It carries the entire visual history of mass print — newspapers, comics, pulp covers. Roy Lichtenstein built a career on enlarged halftone dots. The pattern instantly signals “printed artifact” in a way flat filters cannot.