Expert: Glen Demers - 9/8/2009

Question
I have a file that was sent to me that I converted to 2 color. It has solids and screens. I save everything to tiff and when I place it in InDesign, and print the separations, everything comes out screened even the solids. Is there something I should be doing in Photoshop or is this a InDesign problem? It also goes to film the same way.

Answer
Hi Sheila,

In order to print a Photoshop file in 2 colors you have to use multichannel mode and save it as an eps (DCS) file. By saving it as a tiff your file reverted to CMYK or RGB colorspace. The screens are caused by Photoshop trying to match your 2 colors out of the 3 or 4 available.

Once you place the 2-color file in InDesign, the colors will appear in the swatch list. Use these colors for any InDesign elements you want to use in the same color. If you wind up with multiple swatches of the same color - delete the color created in InDesign and a dialog will ask you if you want to replace it, replace it with the Photoshop color.

Hope this helps,

Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

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