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They’re there, lurking in your image files.
But have you ever wondered what are image channels are?
And what do they have to do with RGB and CMYK?
Here’s the answer.
The channels panel in Photoshop is one of the most disused and misunderstood parts of the program.
But images have color channels with or without Photoshop.
Let’s briefly look at both of these, and contrast the two of them.
Issac Newton documented this in Opticks, a book on his studies of light and the refraction of it.
The RGB color model is exactly this.
Do We Really Need Both?
As you might have guessed, RGB and CMYK files each are used to solve their own individual problems.
RGB files work with a model that is based around light.
CMYK is the preferred color model when working directly for four color process print.
What Does All This Have to Do with Image Channels?
The illustration above shows Photoshop’s color picker tool.
In a common 24 bit RGB image file, images are essentially made of three smaller 8 bit files.
Wait, What Are Alpha Channels?
However, Alpha channels have on crucial difference: they denote transparency, not color information.
Wherever there is white, the image is opaque.
Where there is black, it is perfectly clear, like a transparent PNG.
Nothing else changes with an Alpha channel.
Image Credits: Prism Reflections bysburke2478.
Red Eyed Tree Frog byCarey James Balboa.
Led 1 byAlessandro Vannucci.
CMYK Process Ink byw_lebelie.
