Colour Models

Before understanding colour models, it is essential to understand different

systems.
As you start working with Adobe Photoshop there are two colour models that you
need to be aware of. These are:
1. RB ! Red " reen " Blue
#. $%&' ! $yan " %agenta " &ellow " Black
RGB
RB is the colour system that monitors use to create colours, using light.
%onitors ha(e three )guns* inside that )shoot* Red, reen and Blue light to e(ery
pi+el on the screen. The computer blends these three light beams together in
(arying proportions to create the other colours you see. 1,,- of all the colours
produces white.

.canners and digital cameras also use RB to capture the (arying le(els of Red,
reen and Blue data in an image.
/ach set of colour information is called a channel. 0hen the three channels of
colour are combined, the result is the full colour image.
An Image is a "Channel Sandwich"
An image is basically a 1channel sandwich1 with one channel each for red, green
and blue in an RB image.
2f you open an RB image and display the $hannels palette you will see the red,
green and blue channels plus an 1RB1 channel. The 1RB1 channel is only a
composite of the three channels.
RB image... $hannels palette for RB
CMYK
CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and a Key colour which is always
black. This is a colour model created by mi+ing semi3transparent ink colours on a
printing press. Tiny dots of the transparent colours o(erlap each other in
thousands of different combinations, creating thousands of different colours with
4ust the four inks. Printing $%&' colours are called process colours. Because the
press uses these four inks to create all the colours an image needs, printing with
$%&' is also called 53colour printing simply because the result does look like
6and is7 full colour.
2f you open a $%&' image and display the $hannels palette you will see the
cyan, magenta, yellow and black channels plus a 1$%&'1 channel. The 1$%&'1
channel is also 4ust a composite of the four channels.
$%&' image... $hannels palette for $%&'
By default, Photoshop displays channels in grayscale. &ou can also display the
channels in color. $hoose File > Preferences > is!la" # Cursors, then check
1$olor $hannels in $olor1.
$hannels in color for RB... $hannels in color for $%&'...
Reca!
If we consider $he colours !roduced %" $he moni$or& $he ligh$ %eams
genera$e i$' I$ is %ased on $he RGB model and i$ is addi$i(e color model'
)hen comes $o !ain$ or !rin$ing in*s' )his is %ased on CMYK model& which
is su%$rac$i(e color model'