Expert: Ken Black - 7/22/2008

Question
I am trying to get my project to the printers but after testing my separations
there are still colors showing up as CMYK.  I want to use 2 spot colors, one
being Pantone 377c (green) and the other black.  

I created all graphics in Photoshop and placed them into my InDesign
document.  Even blocks of Pantone 377c created in PS show up as a variety of
CMYK colors when looked at in separations in ID.  Same story with black and
white images.

How can I get my whole document to be only 2 spot colors?  Can the black I
want be listed as a process color or should it be changed to a spot color?
Should I be using Illustrator for future projects working with InDesign?

Answer
Hi Tara.

First, check the Ink Manager in Indesign. To do this, click the option arrow on the swatches palette and select Ink Manager. Make sure the box for All Spots To Process is unchecked.

Next, take a look at how your Photoshop images are being created.
Photoshop images need to have a channel for each color being used.
In this case you should only have channels for black and your spot color.

If you still have cmyk as channels, chances are your image is cmyk. This can be fixed by creating your image as a duotone then saving in Multichannel Mode.

Whatever method you chose to create the spot channel the image needs to be saved as a DCS 2.0 file. With Indesign, however, you should be able to get away with leaving the Photoshop image as a layered file or .psd and that should carry the spot color for you (so long as it has its own channel)

Many RIPs have trouble with .psd files in Indesign documents, so you may need to embed the image into Indesign. Check with your printer as to how they need the files prepped in regards to this.

As far as if you should be using Illustrator, I would say that it depends on what type of images you are using. Photoshop is a raster based program, that is, it uses varying degrees of pixels to create the image. Illustrator is vector based, which uses mathematical formulas to create paths. If you are using photos then Photoshop is the tool for the job. If your graphics only contain solid colored shapes then Illustrator is the go to. Obviously, this is entirely a generalization, as this subject has volumes itself. In a nutshell, if your graphics do not contain any photos or feathered effects, I would use Illustrator.

I hope this helps. Let me know how everything turns out.

Thanks,

Ken Black
www.bestprintingonline.com