Adobe Photoshop 6.0 User Guide

Adding spot colors (Photoshop)
Spot colors are special premixed inks used instead
of, or in addition to, the process color (CMYK)
inks. Each spot color requires its own plate on the
press. (Because a varnish requires a separate plate,
it is considered a spot color, too.) For information
on printing spot color plates, see “Printing color
separations” on page 389.
If you are planning to print an image with spot
colors, you need to create spot channels to store
the colors.
Note: To export spot channels, save the file in DCS
2.0 format or PDF. (See “Saving files in Photoshop
EPS or DCS format (Photoshop)” on page 359.)
About spot colors
Note the following when working with spot colors:
• For spot color graphics that have crisp edges and
knock out the underlying image, consider creating
the additional artwork in a page-layout or illustration
application.
• To apply spot color as a tint throughout an
image, convert the image to Duotone mode and
apply the spot color to one of the duotone plates.
You can use up to four spot colors, one per plate.
(See “Printing color separations” on page 389.)
• The names of the spot colors print on the
separations.
• Spot colors are overprinted on top of the fully
composited image. Each spot color is overprinted
in the order it appears in the Channels palette.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 6.0
User Guide
• You cannot move spot colors above a default
channel in the Channels palette except in Multichannel
mode.
• Spot colors cannot be applied to
individual layers.
• If you print an image that includes spot color
channels to a composite printer, the spot colors
print out as extra pages.
• You can merge spot channels with color
channels, splitting the spot color into its color
channel components. Merging spot channels lets
you print a single-page proof of your spot color
image on a desktop printer.
Creating spot channels
You can create a new spot channel or convert an
existing alpha channel to a spot channel.
To create a new spot channel:
1 Choose Window > Show Channels to display
the Channels palette.
2 To fill a selected area with a spot color, make or
load a selection.
3 Do one of the following to create a channel:
• Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click
(Mac OS) the New Channel button ( ) in the
Channels palette.
• Choose New Spot Channel from the Channels
palette menu.
If you made a selection, that area is filled with the
currently specified spot color.
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