How to Create the Dotted Halftone Pattern Effect in Photoshop CC

In this tutorial, you will learn how to Make a Halftone Effect in Photoshop CC.
Halftone is originally a printing technique that uses tiny dots of colored ink to simulate solid ink coverage. When varied in size and spacing, the dots generate a smooth color and gradient effect.
To get started, open an imagine in photoshop and go to Filter - Pixelate - Color Halftone.
Here are what each text box means. Max radius will define how big the dots will be in general. Feel free to try different sizes to see what gets you the look you want.
The Screen Angles control how the individual dots align to make the blended colors. We advise leaving these as is. If you’ve already changed those numbers and want to go back to stock settings, hold Command and the cancel button will change to a Default button.
This is the best method for accurate and predictable halftone images. Photoshop really came a long way in revising the effect to give greater control with more choices.
❓💬 What other photoshop filters would you like us to make a tutorial about? Please let us know in the comments.
#HowTech #Photoshop
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[@davishd2145]

Didn’t work for me. Don’t know why

[@sharonj430]

Thanks for providing a simple and straightforward explanation of this technique.

[@niyaroper5498]

You've just made my life easier!! Thank you so much for this!

[@Giadaisalltoowell]

It doesn't work for me, for some reason.... After I apply Torn Edges, the layer becomes brown 🤷‍♀and even if I turn it into b&w, the result is way way different. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong 😭

[@jamestiono2292]

Hi there, I had a similar problem. I figured out that the filter gallery follows your color pallete(?) IDK what it is called but it is the one in the left side of the screen, below the zoom tool. Notice that in the tutorial the guy set it to Black as the foreground color, and White as the background color. I tried to adjust exactly like his and it is successful. Hopefully this helps.

[@zahwa8574]

​@@jamestiono2292 thank you so much!!

[@thalitadesa8291]

@@jamestiono2292 omg youre such an angel, thank you so much!

[@ivwrigley]

@@jamestiono2292 you legend, thank you

[@lunareluna]

@@jamestiono2292 tysm!! this was so helpful!!

[@Hystericsanto]

Can someone helo me ? If i open the filter gallery it just white out the image and nothing showing

[@imomen4134]

Same , did u get a fix ?

[@michaelmccrory2220]

A lovely step by step tutorial and technique. Thank you for sharing 👍

[@wiewiorka_ojoj4167]

I love it. Simple and easy :) thank U!

[@willai4999]

great tutorial !

[@amineaitboulman]

thank you for this simple useful tutorial

[@DuchDude]

something went wrong when I tried to apply the filter to the 50% grey layer, it doesn't change to halftone pattern but rather just turns completely white. anyone can help me with this?

[@Marc-ND]

Same... did you sort it?

[@DuchDude]

@@Marc-ND I did sort it, but to tell you the truth I'm not sure what I did right to help you 😥 I tried doing it again, playing with the way the effects where layered in that window, changing the way the layers were layered, all sost of junk

[@Marc-ND]

@@DuchDude I read one comment where it said to put the foreground colour to black and background at white. That got me the grey screen. It then sort of worked but not great. I followed another guys technique which was more simple. If you need it let me know :)

[@manafestvision]

Wow. Such a great tutorial! Thank you for this!

[@Luckylos_]

This dude is goat for this

[@raficanonigo3796]

THANK YOU FOR THIS TUTORIAL!

[@nanamimi_momodzono]

Нарешті я знайшла цей тутлріал Благослови Боже автора

[@JamilaDanandeh]

Thanks for nice app God bless you ❤❤❤From 🇮🇷

[@imeldaoaing7935]

I pray i could buy computer to learn more.thank you so much for sharing your talent given by our God.God bless!

[@alexanderschwab4773]

This is great!

[@ChristAssist]

Thanks for tutorial bro

[@josephhernandeztorrejon966]

thank you for this! You are THE GOAT

[@MRCOMMENTONYOURVIDEO]

give "photoshop design and photo education" a raise!!!

[@tylercleveland9321]

this isn't working for me, the preview screen is just black whenever i do it, but other filters can work. what do i do?

[@simochiamamisimo6374]

same

[@Fuyukori]

Check the above comments by @jamestiono2292 it works press X on the 50% fill layer

[@mrmunain6010]

Finally thank you

[@D_M_Wolfe]

Amazing! Thank you so much.

[@ARKIUM]

THANK YOU....

[@VirtualPupvids]

We miss you Photoshop Design and Photo editing Tutorials from HowTech. We are craving a new tutorial, yet you don't ever come around. Please come back, Photoshop Design and Photo editing Tutorials from HowTech.

[@winterzealot]

Thank you so much!!!

[@Ali23455]

Amazing

[@EmanDeMoan]

THANK YOU!

[@F4FIGHT]

Amazing! thank you for this

[@SantaDragon]

0:48 As soon as I go to filter galery the image is colored red ... I made it several times with differenz images (RGB and tried CMYK) step by step same way and does not work.

[@93__]

change your colors to black and white

[@mascringt3851]

Thank you.

[@j_diivstudio7670]

Any idea why this stopped working for me? It worked fine last night, but now when I add the halftone filter to the 50% grey layer, all I get is blank white, no halftone effect at all anymore. As far as I can see, I'm doing everything else correctly.

[@ula9185]

yes, me too. no halftone effect at all

[@J4NVS]

I figured out the issue I was having - you need to have your foreground color as black and your background color as white for it to work.

[@dhairyaraj11]

same T_T

[@loginonano6214]

@@J4NVSi need add a mask for do black and white? i dont understand what i need do

[@Muhammed-jq6of]

@@loginonano6214 No, just press the (D) to reset the foreground and background to default, it worked for me

[@Quinn01jpg]

thank you so much 🫶🏻

[@coryallenhall]

Major thanks, very helpful!

[@gutusbaricho]

awesome tutorial btw, thanks

[@mizzcrazygal]

when i do filter gallery halftone it always makes it blue idk why :( even after following this tutorial

[@johnsmith56920]

Hi. Thnaks. Just what I needed.

[@afrodevondice]

I can’t get the halftone pattern to appear at all ??

[@mochnurdinsurabaya6052]

great its work very simple , thanks

[@user-lp7rm1cg1l]

thanks bruther

[@partyhaad]

Perfect thanks

[@BreHuang]

Did this video get cropped? I remember there being a slightly different technique last time I watched it with a photo of a man bending down.

[@WhattheGamebyRAJ]

filter gallery effects turns my grey layer to white. what am i doing wrong?

[@DuchDude]

same thing here, did you find a fix for it?

[@ClifDickens]

Great tutorial - thanks!

[@InfinitriCreatives]

It doesn't work anymore. The dots are light grey and then it disappears after puting Torn Edges.

[@Lunehardt]

Can you like save it as a preset so you don't do the same process over again?

[@cooolmotiongraphics5243]

Amazing and useful.

[@abdulbasit1979]

i want to change the color how can do that?

[@dhyanugiriwanaatmodjo1713]

thank a lot

[@GhandiMiranda]

is there any tutorial to convert photos to engrave into granite with a laser machine?

[@lola-to9om]

Idk not working for me when i do torn edges its goes plane grey

[@willai4999]

the dots are very small for me what do I do wrong

[@Lannistergoldss]

THANK YOU

[@Nic-il5bj]

Is there a way I could do this but with a transparent background so that layers underneath can b visible? Xoxo

[@hazimmaqbool590]

Edit: Smart way: Change the blending mode to darken. Stupid way(like i used to): It’s not the most efficient way but I’ll share anyway. Export the image as is and image trace that into a vector in illustrator. Now you have a transparent vector image. Copy that and paste it in photoshop.

[@yipeeyooww7345]

Cool Effectt!! How can I apply it without changing the back ground?

[@umar-farukadama8839]

i think masking should do the job

[@rafcmons]

very easy to make

[@andresfelipesaavedraflorez3864]

I don't know why but hen I choose the filter options the half gray layer just turns black :( what am I doing wrong?

[@andresfelipesaavedraflorez3864]

It varies from document to document, it works sometimes and then it does not. It's very frustrating! What should I keep an eye on? it now turns the image completely white.

[@icedmintchocochip]

hey have you figured it out? Its happening to me too!

[@andresfelipesaavedraflorez3864]

I haven't. One of my teachers told me it might be a graphic processing issue because of photoshop's heavy duty nature. I doubt it tho, Im currently using an apple silicon MacBook and the issue doesn't seem to happen in my friend's Macs. @@icedmintchocochip

[@weilzudope]

set your default colors to black and white (X)

[@DJDavidSerrano]

Filter Gallery is greyed out.

[@rutgerhollander]

If you select the Filter menu and Filter Gallery is grayed out, it's probably because your image is in 16 bit. You'll need to choose Image, Mode, and then convert from 16-bit to 8-bit in order to access the Filter Gallery. (Thank you Google ;) )

[@kenansultanic1091]

But how do I do it with color instead of black and white?

[@DaezanFreeman]

My filter gallery is greyed out. How do I fix it?

[@contraband333]

Does anyone know how to apply the half tone layer only to the image you have and not the whole background? when I transfer the image to another page the background is not transparent because the bit map covers the whole thing

[@trenton9]

You place the image layer you want effected directly underneath the halftone layer. Right click on the halftone layer and select 'clipping mask' from the dropdown. If you have a group of layers you want affected, group all those layers together, place the group layer directly under the halftone layer and select 'clipping mask' on the halftone layer.

[@finlikefinish]

yes

[@38Thrill]

How to separate colored images

[@yoyooyoy2507]

nice

[@rush2004]

Nice 👨

[@mdhzwn]

But how do i reverse the effect, if my image is already half tone i want it to be "solidify" back to atleast dont have the dots

[@sooperd00p]

Wait....how did you replace the image? There's a weird edit at the end that wasn't explained. Around 1:41.

[@manucumpleanito]

When i use the halftone pattern it gives me an all white pattern that doesnt let me see anything

[@whyareyoureadingthis26]

samee

[@Cynlogan]

I had this same problem. On the tool bar I had a white foreground and white background so I changed the background to black and it fixed my problem. Hope this helps.

[@s000mable]

Does it have to be black and white I need same effect but on colout

[@icedmintchocochip]

Hey! You can just apply a layer of color over it and change the blending mode, usually works for me

[@ArtandKitchen_]

Hi! do you have a tutorialto make a pixel portrait faster? thanks

[@hankhoffman8475]

I follow all the steps until I get to "go to filters gallery." When I click on "filters gallery," I get the message "Could not complete the Filter Gallery command because the selected area is empty." And I'm stopped there. Any suggestions?

[@99soloist]

im guessing you should turn it to 8bit. could be wrong though. but i had the same problem. I opened the new document in RGB 16bit at first

[@Salman-ft4ve]

why its doesn't work for me :(

[@schazzstudios123]

Anyone know why the halftone affect lessens when merging the layers?

[@mrc9400]

can some one help me when i create the new layer for torn pages the layer just turn into pure white

[@Cynlogan]

I had this same problem. On the tool bar I had a white foreground and white background so I changed the background to black and it fixed my problem. Hope this helps.

[@lananhphamo3893]

Press D to reset, your half tone will be black and white.

[@fakhriilyasa5983]

thank u man, confused it didnt work at the first time

[@suhailsubair3097]

If it doesn't work for you, do this, Before running the Halftone Pattern filter, make sure the Foreground and Background colors in the toolbox are set to Black foreground and White background. You can press the D key to do that.

[@mirandazar]

When I got to sketch and halftone pattern my whole canvas turns white.

[@jasonthatjason1912]

This is ridiculous! what happened to the original where you just click Halftone?

[@javedlely]

Is it now converted into vector or still an image only?

[@gamzivibez_]

WHY IS MINE RED PLS CAN SOMEONE HELP

[@eva-jj3dz]

did you figured out?

[@yemarican]

This will not work good for screen printing by the way.

[@gsfxmentor]

Can I collaborate with you sir

[@LD71685]

Didn't work but used an illustration than a photo...hmmm...

[@Evitaschannel]

How do I do this without black and white?

[@siqumusic]

You can probably just skip the first step then

[@3merTVPlays]

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………….. … sus

[@fikriammar7894]

jis

[@thedanielagboola]

Didn't work

[@sonyabizyai]

no hate but it wasnt useful. i have dirt or diamonds effect instead of dots

[@MRCOMMENTONYOURVIDEO]

thank you!!! great video

[@MRCOMMENTONYOURVIDEO]

thank you!!

[@MRCOMMENTONYOURVIDEO]

incredibly great

[@ameliahadju4830]

does anyone know why my filter gallery won't open or click? 😢

[@semilorestephen6002]

any reason why my halftone changes to blue?

[@kaungsisthet3286]

me too

[@adsz]

How can i copy it and paste somewhere?