How to correctly use spot colours in Photoshop?

SW
Posted By
Steven_Wild
Aug 7, 2008
Views
364
Replies
9
Status
Closed
Hi,

Using CS2, I’ve created one of those swooshy Macintosh Panther wallpaper images, with various layers of sweeping lines and tinted gradient arcs.

Now I want to create the image using just tints of pantone 519 but I’m unsure of how to work with pantone colours in photoshop. I’ve pulled up the solid coated pantone library and located the swatch, but how do I specify various tints of this colour?

I’ve searched the forum and come across spot channels, and have read the photoshop help entry on this, but still can’t understand how to do it. From what I’ve read, I make a selection, then create a spot channel of the colour and set the solidity to 100%. If I want an 80% tint, I just adjust the solidity to 80%. Is this correct, or is the solidity more like transparency than tint?

In addition, how do I create a gradient between these two colours?

Sorry, I’m sure this is really quite easy.

Thanks for any help.

Steven
Related Tags
color correct how spot use

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

BL
Bob Levine
Aug 7, 2008
Are you planning on going to press with this?

Bob
SW
Steven_Wild
Aug 7, 2008
Hi Bob,

Yes I am. Unfortunately this is going to be the cover of my employer’s annual report (shudder). The design in no way suits the message of our company or product, but the CEO "likes the pattern". But yes, it will be going to press. This is the first time I’ve used pantone colour in a photoshop-generated image – most of my stuff is produced in Illustrator and InDesign.

Looking forward to you steering me in the right direction.

Cheers,

Steven
BL
Bob Levine
Aug 7, 2008
Honestly, what you’re trying to do is going to be nearly impossible using only Photoshop.

Why not do it in Illy and/or ID?

Bob
SW
Steven_Wild
Aug 7, 2008
The first time I attempted this, I used photoshop, but not using spot colours – it worked out really well. I tried it again in Illustrator using a tutorial I came across –

< http://www.ndesign-studio.com/resources/tutorials/abstract-b ackground/>

Unfortunately, the blending mode suggested (Screen) [and all the other modes], doesn’t give me the effect I’m after (which really is just gentle gradients blending into the background). I’m not sure if this is a function of the Pantone 519 (purple) that I’m using, but I get a lot of hideous hues in the overlying gradients – none of which I experienced in photoshop using the cmyk equivalent of pantone 519. Blending modes isn’t something I’ve had a heap of experience with, so I figured I’d probably be better back in Photoshop where it worked out first time.

Steven
SW
Steven_Wild
Aug 8, 2008
If I can’t get this working with Pantone, I’ll just set it up as best I can in cmyk and trust the printer to get as close as possible to the pantone colour of the 100% 519 background. They’re pretty good printers and have come through for us in the past.
DM
dave_milbut
Aug 8, 2008
gotta love design by prayer! 🙂
SW
Steven_Wild
Aug 8, 2008
Tell me about it. I’m (obviously) fairly new to design. Page layout, basic coloured imagery, no problem. More complex images and colour effects and I’m drowning. Guess what our CEO likes the most?

Unfortunately being the (only) in-house designer, I haven’t got anyone with more knowledge to feed off. Don’t know if you guys have seen Little Britain in the US, but I reckon I should just greet the CEO’s requests with a "(cough) the computer says no…".
DM
dave_milbut
Aug 8, 2008
Unfortunately being the (only) in-house designer, I haven’t got anyone with more knowledge to feed off.

I know how you feel man. I’m a programmer. I also know a little about Lotus Notes. Soooo guess who gets to be the Notes programmer! I can do easy stuff, adding names and fields and stuff, but when it comes to more complicated things – same thing. No one else there knows squat about it. The guy I took over from retired to North Carolina to go fishing! 🙂

Good luck! 🙂
JM
J_Maloney
Aug 8, 2008
Why not just mode grayscale (or better yet a black and white adjustment layer, then mode grayscale), adjust levels, new spot channel, move dot from gray channel to spot channel? If it was made in RGB 519, your green channel is probably best to make the move to grayscale. If you’re working in CMYK, then the magenta channel (unless of course you’re using pictures with UCR/GCR).

I guess I don’t understand how you can say "I’ll set it up best in CMYK" but can’t get it to one color.

Here’s the tut version using the green channel only. If you do some channel mixing, I’m sure you could get something a little nicer.

< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1jaDKpRgglatQZJhuk nYJ4TLhAUUq1>

Must-have mockup pack for every graphic designer 🔥🔥🔥

Easy-to-use drag-n-drop Photoshop scene creator with more than 2800 items.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections