Creating Spot Color Channels
When you work in the world of service bureaus and press machines, there are certain things you must do to create a printable document. The color mode of the image will be CMYK, and the output of the document will most likely be in a format designed to create color plates such as DCS 2.0 (Digital Color Separation). In addition, you may want to apply a spot color to the image. Spot colors instruct a press to apply a specific color to a specific portion of a document. For example, you may want to create a book cover jacket, and you want the author's name in a specific Pantone Blue, or want to apply a varnish to a portion of a brochure. Whatever the case, you will need to create a spot color channel.
Create a Spot Color Channel
Open a document.
If the document is not in the CMYK format, click the Image menu, point to Mode , and then click CMYK to convert it.
Create a selection, defining the area for the spot color. Use any of Photoshop's selection tools, including the Type Mask tool.
Select the Channels palette.
Click the Channels Options button, and then click New Spot Channel .
Click the Color box, and then select a color.If you need a specific press color, such as the Pantone Color Matching System, click the Custom button in the Color Picker, select from the available color sets, and then click OK .The Name box displays the name of the selected color.
Enter a Solidity value (0 to 100) to view the spot color at a specific opacity (Solidity does not affect press output).
Click OK .[View full size image]
[View full size image]