Adding White Ink in Adobe Photoshop

[@christopherellis6209]

There are so many horrible tutorials on using white spot color in Photoshop. Thank you for providing a solid and simple explanation!

[@LeeManevitch]

Perhaps the difference is that I don't do this for the views, or for the money. Perhaps it's because I have my knowledge due to the thousands of scars I've earned through the years. But whatever the real difference is, I appreciate that you find value in my videos. Thanks!

[@IsabelleAustin-jt2ul]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! It's been very helpful in explaining some print aspects of Photoshop, especially in reference to Onyx, but I have a quick question. However, I've hit a roadblock on saving my TIFF file with the Spot Channel check box selected in the save window. I've tried finding a solution in the preferences tab but I just can't find a way to bring the check box back. Is this a method that was outdated by Photoshop CC's updates, or am I missing something. Thank you for your time!

[@LeeManevitch]

Isabelle, I'm on the latest-and-greatest version of Photoshop and it still works exactly the same way for me. Let's move this to email - [e-mail] - and let me see if I can narrow down your problem and hopefully solve it for you. Just to be clear though: you're 100% certain that you have an additional channel called "Spot1" or whatever, and that it's set to be a spot channel? Double-click the thumbnail in the Channels palette and ensure that the title bar says "Spot Channel Options" otherwise it's a different type of channel and not appropriate for white ink workflow.

[@xvostik]

Hello 👋 It’s probably a long shot, but I have clients PDF file with image and graphics. How I can make white spot color for all?

[@LeeManevitch]

That's way too generic a question to answer, unfortunately - it really depends on the construction of the file. In general, when you have a file like that, it's best to go back to the original components and add white to each image individually.

[@mkzaman5105]

excellent, Lee!

[@alarlinna4684]

But what if I only want to print white? As a file in your video (3:30) - lion.tiff. Is there a video to share? thx

[@LeeManevitch]

So the case of the lion was a different design strategy. The easiest way to do this is: Convert the file to greyscale and INVERT the data - everywhere that is black in the file will print white so it needs to be inverted image data. TIP: I usually set my lightest point (once inverted) to 1% so there are no blown-out highlights. Save as a TIF and then colorize it in Illustrator or InDesign...just apply the "Spot1" spot color to the image there and then save as PDF. If you want to stay straight Photoshop then it becomes a little more complicated. Convert and invert, then create the Spot1 channel. Cut and paste the image data from Gray to Spot1. You should then have two channels - an empty "Gray" channel and a "Spot1" channel with your image data. Then just convert to CMYK and all the channels except Spot1 should still be empty. Save your file as TIF and it should do what you need it to!

[@ahmedrhamnia3771]

I have a question, the size of the file doesn’t stay the same after saving

[@LeeManevitch]

What does your Image Size dialog say about your dimensions and resolution? What dimensions is it resized to, and where / what RIP?

[@FranciscoAngelini]

Hi, amazing job, i try in photoshop, works fine in some images, but in my background show a black image no my bg image :(

[@LeeManevitch]

Well something must be going wrong. Are you able to send me an example? [e-mail] - I'll see what's different about a file that doesn't work properly.

[@selim2507]

how to print transparent colors

[@LeeManevitch]

Is there a question there? What are you trying to accomplish?

[@LeeManevitch]

Is there a question there? What are you trying to accomplish?

[@baba.onboard]

Which adobe version is it?

[@LeeManevitch]

Spot channels have been around since at least the days of Photoshop CS6. Are you experiencing problems?

[@baba.onboard]

I am using Oki 1050 printer.. and I have never printed white from it yet because I am not able to understand how exactly to do that. I watched your video I got an idea of how to do it but if i face any problem can you please guide me...

[@LeeManevitch]

Sure thing - if you run into any snags shoot me an email at [e-mail] and I'll see if I can help you. I'm not familiar with that printer though...does it print via a RIP or directly from design software?

[@baba.onboard]

@@LeeManevitch it can print directly from adobe pdf

[@LeeManevitch]

@@baba.onboard ah. Looking at the user guide, it does not appear that this printer supports *designing* with white ink. Your options are limited to what is supported by the print driver, which allows the option of adding white to a color-only file with certain options for how the white is generated. See page 118 of the English manual for the options. I don't think anything in this video is pertinent to your particular model of printer.

[@DavidAk-b6r]

Hello Mr. Manevitch I happen to invest on a DTF printer (to work on t-shirts) which currently is not printing white as well. I can print any other color except white. Other than that I was able to follow your suggestions on the video however just like the user below IsabelleAustin I do not have the option to save the spot color with my version of PS which is cloud based. Do you think that buying the full version might pull the trick? Thank you for reading.

[@LeeManevitch]

Photoshop Express and Photoshop are not at all the same thing. Sorry to say, you'll need the full paid version of Photoshop in order to work with spot color channels.