Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 Studio Techniques

Channel Mixer

So far, most of the adjustments we've talked about have been relatively straightforward. You usually tell Photoshop what you want to change (midtones, highlights, and so on) and then tell it what you'd like to shift them toward. But the Channel Mixer is a different beast. It forces you to think about how Photoshop works behind the scenes. The Channel Mixer lets you literally mix the contents of the channels that show up in the Channels palette (Window > Channels).

When you choose Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer, you can choose the channel you'd like to affect from the Output Channel pop-up menu. Then you can move the Source Channels sliders to brighten or darken the output channel (Figure 10.84). Because RGB mode creates your ...