Spot Colors
Colors are important not only in Photoshop, but also in the printing process as some colors cannot be reproduced in the desired formats and color accuracy may not be granted. Spot colors are used for color accuracy.
When you need bright accurate colors you use spot colors. This is an extra color that is printed at the same time as the CMYK inks. Unlike CMYK spot ink is a solid color and is not printed as dots. Spot colors are generally used when you,
- Need an exact match of a color.
- Want to use metallic inks.
- Want to use florescent inks.
- Want to use a spot varnish.
- Want to print a two-or three color project.
Raster Vs. Vector Graphics
Before we understand paths it is important to know the two types of graphics formats used in Photoshop. These are raster and vector graphics. They work together to produce what you see but function in totally different ways.
Raster Graphics are made of pixels and tiny squares each containing one color. When colors are applied to these pixels and are mixed you no longer see the individual pixels but the entire image. Photoshop is essentially a raster-based program.
Vector Graphics are based on maths. Think of vectors as "joining the dots". A minimum of two dots (called anchor points) are necessary for any vector image to happen. When you create two points Photoshop will draw a line between the points. You will then tell whether you want a straight line or a curved line. Photoshop will adjust the curve to fall between the lines so that they are still connected. Vectors have several benefits such as,
- Easily edited at any time.
- Small file size.
- Scale them without loss of quality.
Note: In Photoshop Paths, Text and Shape layers use vectors
