Holographic overlays involve producing a hologram on an overlaminate film that can then be applied using a digital printer with overlaminating capabilities. This method is the most secure, offers the best ease-of-use and is the most expensive to produce. Costs for the initial manufacturing can range in price from $3,000 to $25,000 depending on the quality and manufacturing method used.

A gradient screen screens back the colours that are being printed, gradually fading from dark to light or light to dark.

This can only be done properly by pre-printing your basic card design and then overprinting variable information using a digital printer.

This requires pre-printed cards that can then be overprinted with a digital ID card printer. ID card printers do not have the very high resolution required to duplicate micro-printing.

Image ghosting involves taking a photographic image, graphic or even a line of type and re-producing a semi-transparent image of it. Usually this image is slightly offset from the original, or it could be somewhere else on the card altogether.

It cannot be easily duplicated on a colour photocopier because a copier degrades the image so much. It does add an extra barrier to duplication and costs very little.