Patent ID: 7401883

Claim:
A printing method comprising: determining either one of a first print mode, which uses both a dark ink and a light ink used for printing gradually dark and light of a given color and which prints with a predetermined number of types of dot gradation values, which is a plurality of types of dot gradation values, based on sizes of dots to be formed, and a second print mode, which uses one of the dark ink and the light ink and which prints with the number of types of dot gradation values larger than the predetermined number, which is a plurality of types of dot gradation values, based on the sizes of the dots to be formed; and determining a dot gradation value corresponding to the size of the dot to be formed, from among the number of the types of the dot gradation values corresponding to the determined print mode, and ejecting the dark ink and the light ink from a head in accordance with the determined dot gradation value.