Abstract: A method of varying the ink density of the full tone in printing within a rotary printing machine with an ink application system which can provide a constant quantity of ink which, in spite of constant ink supply from the inking unit, permits control of the full-tone density or adaptation of the raster tonal values in the print. The method includes setting the binary image on a printing plate. A basic raster of raster points, which determines the area coverage of the binary image, is produced on the printing plate for the variable-area image information. The basic raster is then superimposed on a fine microraster in such way that the area coverage of the basic raster is reduced by a percentage which can be set between 0% and 100%.