Image recording apparatus and method

An image recording method, comprising:

• forming an image on a printing medium with a full-line recording head in which a plurality of image-recording elements are arrayed across a length corresponding to an entire width of the printing medium by at least one of the recoding head and the printing medium in a direction substantially orthogonal to a width direction of the printing medium so as to move the recording head and the printing medium relatively to each other in a relative conveyance direction;
• and
• performing recording control so that when recording is carried out with respect to a solid area of a recorded image with a substantially uniform density, diameter of dots in the solid area recorded on the printing medium with the image-recording elements is made greater than an array pitch of the image-recording elements projected so as to be aligned in a main scanning direction substantially orthogonal to the relative conveyance direction.

An image recording method, comprising:

• forming an image on a printing medium with a full-line recording head in which a plurality of image-recording elements are arrayed across a length corresponding to an entire width of the printing medium by at least one of the recoding head and the printing medium in a direction substantially orthogonal to a width direction of the printing medium so as to move the recording head and the printing medium relatively to each other in a relative conveyance direction;
• and
• performing recording control so that when recording is carried out with respect to a gradation area of a recorded image in which a density gradually changes, diameter of dots in the gradation area recorded on the printing medium with the image-recording elements is made greater than an array pitch of the image-recording elements projected so as to be aligned in a main scanning direction substantially orthogonal to the relative conveyance direction.