I'm trying to do a spot color separation on a two color design by selecting colors with the Magic Wand. My image is Placed from illustrator onto a transparent background and is flattened. My magic wand settings are at, Tolerance: 50, Anti-Alias selected, Contiguous not-selected.
I select the first color (red), and then select "Inverse" and make it a channel. I then repeat with the second color to make it a channel as well. I then alternate visibilities and print them separately. However, when I print, I get a black background printed.
Do I need to have a white background on the image to start? Should I not inverse to make a channel? Am I too stupid for this business? How well do computers burn?
If the image is in Illustrator, why copy it into Photoshop?
Anyhow - the channel image is making your selected area 'black', so if you select the red and then invert the selection - your red channel is now everywhere red is absent. Don 't invert the selection - just save the selection per color*. But make sure you have reg marks on your sep channels.
*depending on your photoshop prefs, remember the selected area should be black on the alpha channel - invert the alpha channel if you need to.
If the colors are specified as spot colors in Illustrator or Photoshop, you really should be able to print out separations without making channels.
I find it's easier to work in Illustrator. Make registration marks in 'registration' color and lock 'em. The select by color, select inverse and hide everything else. Then select everything and color it black and print your plate. Then undo the color change, unhide everything, Repeat the process with your next/second color.
Also I have found it better to use the Select>Color range. Click the Inverse box in the pop-up.
For a simple two color you may be able to get away with just selecting with the magic wand, fill black. Then hide the other layer and print....rinse and repeat. no channels needed.
Nevermind. I guess I can just turn on and off strokes and fills accordingly. That seems to work much better. Plus now I don't have that annoying raster blur that photoshop seems to create in its shaping of images.
Thanks for the advice. Its remarkable how much I can love and hate computers in the same instant.
just select the object with an eyedropper so the fill color is in the color picker and under the select menu, select by fill color. You can also select by both fill and stroke if you need to.
Photoshop Spot Color Separation Issues 
