The result is that the roughened areas hold the ink to produce a deep velvety black in the print, and the burnished areas leave inkless lines. The photo emulsion is put on a copper plate, and the image is exposed with very intense light. Then the plate is placed in an acid bath, and the image is etched onto it just as the solution would etch hand-drawn lines. The artist could add additional etchings to the plate. The most common form of planographic printing is lithography .
Planographic printing is thus distinct from intaglio printing , relief printing , and embossing .
An important printmaking method involving the use of planographic stones or metal plates . The stone or the plate can be etched with acid. The lithographic process was invented by Alois Senefelder in the late 18th century and is now in wide use for both artistic and commercial purposes. The mechanical version of this process has become the dominate form of commercial printing, but the offset process still has some artistic applications. A form of lithography where a photographic process is used to produce the image in the plate.