Are there any Photoshop filters that will dither to a limited color palette?

Question

I have an RGB color image that I'd like to print with a black-and-white laser printer. I'd like to have some control over how the image is dithered rather than letting the printer do it.

I'm aware that in Photoshop (or most raster image editors) that I could convert the image to indexed color (or export it for the web), choose my limited color palette (in this case, black and white), and dither it.

However, I'd prefer to have something more dynamic, akin to a Threshold adjustment layer or to the Posterize filter, so that I can use the Burn and Dodge tools to more precisely control the dithering of specific parts of the image. Having to change color modes and then undoing involves a lot of trial-and-error and is rather tedious.

Does any such thing exist?

Answer 1

Yes. There's a dither filter called Ximagic GrayDither, but unfortunately it's not free but costs €30, although there is a free 30 day trial. Here's the link. http://www.ximagic.com/g_download.html

I have no affiliation with the website/developers.

To be honest though, I don't know if it's worth the price when you can just apply dithering when converting a greyscale image to bitmap mode. You could easily dodge and burn a greyscale image before applying the dither. Obviously the downside is that this method is destructive.

Anyway, here's the filter dialog

Here's an example using the filter on a smart object

Click on the image above to see it at 100% to get an idea of the real output.

You could easily use the dodge and burn tools in the Smart Object to lighten or darken specific areas, perhaps even use a black and white layer adjustment inside the Smart Object to give more control.

There's a method shown here if you want to dodge and burn non-destructively: https://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/dodge-burn/ - the technique basically uses a 50% grey layer on Overlay mode, onto which you can paint to affect the layers below.