By Geezy Tees – Southern Utah’s Screen Print Shop
Start With the Image
Photos are wild things. Filled of light. Full of shade. Impossible to throw them on a shirt all at once. Not if you want them to hold. Only if you want them to last.
So you separate them. Break them down. Find the four colors—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. That’s CMYK. That’s where it begins.
Break the Color, Keep the Shape
The photo is opened in a program. Photoshop works fine. It could be others. The key is in the separation. Each color pulled from the whole. Individually made into a layer.
The process takes patience. It’s like carving wood. You cut until the shape appears. Cyan is cold. Magenta is deep. Yellow is light. Black is the weight. All four come together. And when aligned just right, the image returns—layer by layer, screen by screen.
A good breakdown makes the rest easier. Bad separations bleed. They blur. Lose the soul of the picture. So take time. Do it right.
Here’s a full guide that helps: CMYK prep with water-based inks.
Make the Screens Count
Each layer becomes a screen. Burned slow and sharp. Washed clean. Dried flat. There is no rushing here. If one screen is off, the whole thing fails. It’s a dance, and each screen is a step.
At Geezy Tees, every screen is treated like the last one we’ll ever make. That’s how it should be.
Pull the Ink Like You Mean It to Screen Print CMYK Photos
CMYK inks are thinner. Water-based flows better. It soaks in. It blends. But it dries quick. You have to move fast. Print one layer. Then the next. Align them well. Keep your hands steady.
Cyan goes down first. Magenta follows. After is yellow. Finally black. One by one, the image comes back. Slowly. Like smoke from a fire that hasn’t died yet.
Step Back and Look
When it’s done, the image should sing. It should speak without words. The four inks should hold the light just right.
That’s how to screen print CMYK photos by color separation. You pull it apart to build it better. Always trust your eye. Trust your hand, and let the print live.
If you mess up, you try again. That’s printing. That’s life.