Saturday, January 31, 2009

Understanding Photoshop Color Mode Function

By David Peters

The color modes and color models of digital imaging seem to be a mystery to many first learning to use Photoshop. Many are so intimidated by the various color modes that they simply ignore the issue because they do not understand the impact color modes can have on the final printed image.

Color modes establish the color model that should be used to display and print digital pictures. Knowing about color modes and models and how to use them in Photoshop is a must for those wishing to achieve professional quality digital images. Take the time to learn what color modes work best in different situations. There are many good Photoshop tutorials and guides that can help you understand how to incorporate color modes into your digital imaging for optimal results for your project.

But what exactly are color modes and why are there different models? Let's take a moment to learn the basic color modes in Photoshop and how they work.

To start, digital images are displayed using several different color modes. This tutorial highlights the basic color modes you will come upon when working with digital images.

RGB

RGB stands re Red Green and Blue. In the RGB color mode colors are created by mixing these three primary colors. You are basically working in three color channels in RBG mode and you can adjust the intensity of each channel to obtain various degrees of colors. White is made by combining all of the three colors.

CMYK

CMYK is for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. While RGB creates colors by mixing colors CMYK essentially creates color by subtracting varying degrees of each color. For example, if white is needed all colors would be reduced to zero.

Learning about the color modes will result in big improvements in your digital imaging work. Printers use CMYK color while monitors use RGB. This is why there is sometimes a difference in what you see on your PC monitor and what you see on paper. Fortunately there is now software that you can install which will calibrate your monitor colors with your printer so what you see on your monitor is what you get when you print. - 15433

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