Color-previews of the "A" and "B" channels

[mikemeister_admin]

Hi,

If I can butt in and give my 2 pence worth - I've been looking a channels whenever I seriously edit an image in order to give me an idea of what I may possibly use and I've developed some PS actions - one that shows all the 11 PS useable channels (yes 11!).

I find the set right at the bottom of this page, http://www.broadhurst-family.co.uk/lefteye/MainPages/colourwatcher.htm , the most useful - LAB in colour & grey and also rgb (in grey), but if anybody wants the 11 channel one, I can post it here if you like.

One final thought for you, is one I use now and then, which displays the rgb channels compared to 128 grey - so that one can more easily guess what the result of an apply image, especially lighten/darken, may do (as I find it very hard to judge 128 when looking at channels).

Cheers
Chris

[mikemeister_admin]

Chris, I have also made an Action -- "Visualize all channels" -- which creates a one-page visualization of all the channels in an image. I've placed the Action set here, if anyone else wants to play with it:

www.klausnordby.com/repository/VisualizeChannels.atn

My "Visualize all channels" ups the ante from 10 to 13 channels -- because it also receives satellite channels! Nah, this is because I use the old, optional HSB/HSL PS-plugin for getting at the HSB channels. (This plugin is shipped on the CS2/CS3 DVD and probably on all older Photoshop CDs.) There are some other channel-related Actions inside this Action set file, too, like my AB colorizing method.

[mikemeister_admin]

Thanks Klaus,

I tried them, but I guess you have a more modern version of PS than me (7) as only the Lab one worked as I do not have the optional plugin - do you know it's filename?

Chris

[mikemeister_admin]

Oy, Chris, PS7 -- that's rather ancient now, sorry if it's not working for you. I'm on CS3. The plugin is named Hsbhsl.8bf -- and I've put a copy at www.klausnordby.com/repository/Hsbhsl.8bf -- just in case your PS7 should lack it.

[mikemeister_admin]

Also, there are these very useful colorized views of the AB, too. No fancy Actions or other methods are needes -- you can get these views simply by turning off the channel visibility of either the A or the B in the Channels palette. This is perhaps the most easy-to-grasp visualization of the AB.

[mikemeister_admin]

Addendum to my previous post: While Photoshop's preview of the AB is clear and intelligible, it visualizes the "green" part of the A with a hue which is very much closer to Cyan than to anything really green. So pedagogically this kind of visualization might be a bit confusing to beginners, as all the textbooks discuss the "green" in the A, which seemingly ain't here at all.