Abstract: An improvement in a half-tone primary color printing method where the black color is approximated by balancing the primary color components of the print and where the printing process involves using three primary color printing passes only, includes the steps of:(a) preparing separated, differentially angled screen images of the primary color and black components of the print;(b) reducing the dot sizes of the screen images corresponding to the respective red, blue and yellow components of the combination plates prior to the combining of each image with its respective black component;(c) preparing combination primary color and black half-tone printing plates using the prepared screened primary color images having reduced dot sizes as the primary color component image of each combination plate;(d) printing the final color image using said plates and primary color inks; and(e) maintaining the density and volume of said inks during said printing process within a range suitable to maintain optimum color density in