Under Working Spaces, choose CMYK and then Custom CMYK. You'll see the Color Settings dialog box that's shown in Figure 5-27. (I use Adobe 1998 as my RGB color setting.) We'll then use a special color setting that converts a four-color CMYK image to a CMY image with no black information.Ĭall up your color settings by choosing Edit » Color Settings. This first step is to change the image to an RGB file so that when we convert it back to a CMYK file later, our special color setting will be read and our conversion to a three-color CMY(K) file will be done. Simply removing black information flattens the image too much
![cmyk and spot color separation in photoshop cmyk and spot color separation in photoshop](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1630/2135/files/Screen_Shot_2018-02-20_at_12.29.15_PM_1024x1024.png)
If we simply remove the black channel information, we get the image in Figure 5-26, which is colorful but lacks texture. Imagine that a client wants this image to be printable without black So rather than remove the black channel altogether, we will blend the black channel information into the C, M, and Y channels to the best of our abilities so we do not lose the information, we just redistribute it!įor example, imagine that our client gives us the four-color image shown Figure 5-25 and wants a file that can be printed without using black.
![cmyk and spot color separation in photoshop cmyk and spot color separation in photoshop](http://www.we-r-here.com/ps/tutorials/level_4/images/Spot.jpg)
If you were to go in and simply delete the black channel, you could lose a lot of shape and contrast, and depending on where the black is in the image, the whole image could look terrible. Having said that, a discussion with your client (again, he may not know or care!), or better yet, the printer involved with the job, may be a good idea if you are considering eliminating the black.
![cmyk and spot color separation in photoshop cmyk and spot color separation in photoshop](https://www.copyartwork.com/opti/img/lpimages/separation/spot-sep.png)
Printing the job with three colors instead of four also saves some money, as it's one less printing plate and one less ink color to worry about. Eliminating the black channel of a four-color CMYK file, in order to satisfy the requirements of the printing process, can result in a superior looking image.