Editing Postage stamp (section)

===Graphic characteristics ===
[[File:The Soviet Union 1985 CPA 5624 stamp (Portrait of Lenin based on an photography of Y.Mebius (1900, Moscow), Tampere Lenin Museum, Finland) small resolution.jpg|thumb|The 1985 postage stamp for the 115th birth anniversary of [[Vladimir Lenin]].  Portrait of Lenin (based on a 1900 photography of Y. Mebius in [[Moscow]]) with the [[Tampere Lenin Museum]].]]
The subjects found on the face of postage stamps are generally what defines a particular stamp issue to the public and are often a reason why they are saved by collectors or history enthusiasts. Graphical subjects found on postage stamps have ranged from the early portrayals of kings, queens and presidents to later depictions of ships, birds and [[satellite]]s,<ref name="Kenmore"/> [[List of people on stamps|famous people]],<ref name="Mallon">[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/6/2006_6_22.shtml Thomas Mallon] {{Webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20071020152554/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/6/2006_6_22.shtml|date=20 October 2007}} "Stamp: Sober Superheroes", American Heritage, November/December 2006</ref> historical events, comics, dinosaurs, hobbies (knitting, stamp collecting), sports, holiday themes, and a plethora of other subjects too numerous to list.

Artists, designers, engravers and administrative officials are involved with the choice of subject matter and the method of printing stamps. Early stamp images were almost always produced from an [[Line engraving|engraving]]—a design etched into a steel die, which was then hardened and whose impression was transferred to a printing plate. Using an ''engraved'' image was deemed a more secure way of printing stamps as it was nearly impossible to counterfeit a finely detailed image with raised lines for anyone but a master engraver. In the mid-20th century, stamp issues produced by other forms of printing began to emerge, such as [[lithography]], [[photogravure]], [[Intaglio (printmaking)|intaglio]] and [[Offset printing|web offset printing]]. These later printing methods were less expensive and typically produced images of lesser quality.