Abstract: A method of laser marking a work piece involves reproducing a pattern having a surface marked portion and a depth engraved portion from a digital image of the pattern. The grayscale shades of pixels in one portion of the image are adjusted while maintaining grayscale shades of pixels in the other portions of the image constant, wherein the adjusted grayscale shades of pixels corresponding to a surface marked portion are within a first range and the adjusted grayscale shades of pixels corresponding to a depth engraved portion are within a second range separate from the first range. The modified image is converted to a computer readable code, such that the first and second ranges of grayscale shades are associated with surface marking and depth engraving ranges of laser power settings. A laser marking apparatus is then operated in accordance with the computer readable code to laser mark the work piece.