Understanding the Digital RGB #s
As explained last week, most of the color images you will be working on in PS are 8bits/channel. And you learned that your images have 3 total channels -- Red, Green, and Blue, which can be viewed independently in the channels palette and in the info palette. And 8 bits when multiplied by the 3 channels gives you a total of 24bits of information per pixel, or 16.7 million colors. This is known as the bit depth, or color depth, of your image and describes how many colors each individual pixel can have!
Back to 8bits/channel though, which is to say 256 tones/channel. This gives you a tonal scale of 0 to 255 for each channel (RGB). When all channels are set to 0 and turned off, you have a black pixel. All turned on to 255, you have a white pixel. And as long as the RGB numbers are equal, you are looking at a neutral gray pixel (darker if the numbers are closer to 0 and lighter if they are closer to 255).
The RGB numbers for each pixel in your image can be viewed in the Info Palette and the information can be used in Levels or Curves to properly balance the color and tone in your image. In fact, having an understanding of these numbers is one of the most useful things I can teach you in this class. With this knowledge, you can almost guarantee yourself proper printing results with most of your images.
Please take a look at the below handout for more information on RGB numbers:
Adobe Camera Raw:
"As an artist, I work to gain technical skill in order to become more fluid, more expressive and more creative in my craft. Technique is always at the service of creativity". - Evan Chong
As explained last week, most of the color images you will be working on in PS are 8bits/channel. And you learned that your images have 3 total channels -- Red, Green, and Blue, which can be viewed independently in the channels palette and in the info palette. And 8 bits when multiplied by the 3 channels gives you a total of 24bits of information per pixel, or 16.7 million colors. This is known as the bit depth, or color depth, of your image and describes how many colors each individual pixel can have!
Back to 8bits/channel though, which is to say 256 tones/channel. This gives you a tonal scale of 0 to 255 for each channel (RGB). When all channels are set to 0 and turned off, you have a black pixel. All turned on to 255, you have a white pixel. And as long as the RGB numbers are equal, you are looking at a neutral gray pixel (darker if the numbers are closer to 0 and lighter if they are closer to 255).
The RGB numbers for each pixel in your image can be viewed in the Info Palette and the information can be used in Levels or Curves to properly balance the color and tone in your image. In fact, having an understanding of these numbers is one of the most useful things I can teach you in this class. With this knowledge, you can almost guarantee yourself proper printing results with most of your images.
Please take a look at the below handout for more information on RGB numbers:
Adobe Camera Raw:
0:00-1:47(Raw) 4:50-7:05(Tools/WB) 12-21(Exposure) 35:35-42:20(Sharpen)
