Colour separation
Splitting a full-colour image into one single-colour image for each printing ink.
Also: separations, seps
Before a colour picture can be printed, it must be divided into layers, one for each ink. Each layer, or separation, records how much of that ink is needed at every point. A printing plate, screen or block is made from each one, and when the inks are printed on top of one another the full image returns. Once done with coloured filters and film, separation is now carried out by software. The same idea is behind screen printing and hand block printing, where each colour has its own screen or block.