Chapter 3. Understanding Color Modes
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding digital color
Looking at color modes
Converting color modes
Creating colors
Many of the tools in Photoshop's graphic user interface are designed to simulate real-life studio or darkroom techniques, and indeed, almost any effect that can be created on paper, canvas, or film can be created virtually in Photoshop.
No matter what technique you choose, the numerical values of the image pixels are altered to simulate these effects. The values are transmitted through a video card to a monitor that instantaneously displays the changes to the colored pixels on its screen.
Ultimately these effects modify the core data of the color channels, and this is why understanding how channels work is so essential. This chapter is about digital color, how it can be configured, and how each configuration offers a different means of control.
Understanding Digital Color
We take a lot for granted when we use a computer to edit pictures. How does the mechanical movement of your hand touching a key or clicking and dragging a mouse translate into the changing luminous image you see on your screen? Digital color, in this regard is enigmatic, and the technology that makes it happen is miraculous.
The tower or laptop that you perform these miracles on is a super calculator that implements calculations with incredible speed. Think how long it would take you to calculate the changes to all the pixels in one square inch of an image destined for printing (300 ...
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