Method and system for digital imaging of printing forms

A method for digital imaging of a printing form through application of energy the method comprising the steps of:

• establishing at least one reference point within image data of an image to be imaged onto a printing form and a limit value for a number of image spots within a surrounding area of the at least one reference point;
• examining a plurality of image spots in the surrounding area of the at least one reference point in the image data and comparing the number of image spots to be imaged within the surrounding area with the limit value with the image processing unit;
• modifying the image data to leave in place the at least one reference point as at least one supporting point if the number of image spots to be imaged in the surrounding area of the at least one reference point exceeds the limit value and a boundary area in the surrounding area around the at least one reference point contains only image spots to be imaged;
• applying energy to create bum-off within the image spots around the at least one supporting point in a burn-off area;
• and
• detaching burn-off from the burn-off area from the printing form in a cleaning step.