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In the first installment of this series, we
looked at duotone color mode, how it works, and how you can
control it. Now let's explore the multichannel color mode, a
mode designed for storage of masks and for specialized printing.
When you convert an image to Multichannel mode,
you no longer have a composite channel with which to work. You
manipulate each color channel individually. (You can, however,
select multiple channels in the Channels palette and work on
them simultaneously.)
Photoshop doesn't let you create a new document
in Multichannel mode, so you'll have to convert from RGB, CMYK,
L*a*b, Duotone, or Grayscale. (You cannot convert to
Multichannel from Index Color or Bitmap mode.) The conversion
process is simple: Open the image in Photoshop and use the menu
command Image> Mode> Multichannel.
Let's take a look at what happens. Here's our
test image, PhotoSpin image #0250038. It's an RGB jpeg file.
Naturally, the Channels palette shows three color channels and
the composite channel.
Because Multichannel is a printing mode, the RGB
channels are changed to CMY. Notice the extreme change in the
image's appearance.
We can convert the image to CMYK mode first, and
then to Multichannel.
Four channels are created from the CMYK image,
called (not coincidentally) Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black.
Despite the one-for-one channel conversion, there is a
noticeable shift in color in the image. (It is, however,
substantially better than the conversion from RGB to
Multichannel.) Keep in mind that we want to use Multichannel as
a specialty printing mode, not for general printing purposes.
In this case, we'll create a two-color image,
using the black channel and a red spot color. We'll keep the
black channel as it is for now, but we need to decide which of
the other three channels to retain. The goal is to retain the
color of the lipstick, so we'll want the channel that best shows
that part of the image.
We can view the channels individually by
clicking on the eyeball icons in the Channels palette ("poking
out the eyes"). Because we're after red, it makes sense that one
of the two component color channels will give us the greater
range and contrast. (Red, as we recall, is made of magenta and
yellow.) Let's compare the lipstick part of the image in the
Magenta and Yellow channels.
We can even do a comparison numerically using
the Histogram. Make a selection to restrict the Histogram to the
area of interest. In this case, we'll look only at the exposed
lipstick. (The Magnetic Lasso is wonderful for this particular
chore.) Next, in the Channels palette, click on a single channel
to get a reading for those color values only. Use the command
Image> Histogram to show the distribution. Click OK, switch to
the next channel and show the Histogram again. Here we can see
that, while neither is great, there's a better distribution of
pixels in the Yellow channel. (This only confirms what our eyes
told us when we looked at the channels individually.)
Okay, we've decided which channels to keep,
Black and Yellow. To get rid of the others, simply open the
Channels palette and drag them to the Trash. By the way, you can
skip the color mode conversion step if you know which channels
you need to delete. If you open a CMYK image and delete one or
more channels, it is automatically converted to Multichannel
mode.
After deleting the Cyan and Magenta channels,
we're left with a two-channel image. However, it's not exactly
what we want. (Not very "kissable," is it?)
To change the Yellow channel to a spot color,
double-click it in the Channels palette. That opens the Channel
Options dialog box.
Click on the color swatch (under the cursor in
the image above) to open the Color Picker. Clicking the Color
Picker's Custom button takes us to the colors we need.
Here's something great! When you click on a color, Photoshop
automatically updates the image – you don't need to exit the
Color Picker to see the change. That allows you to test drive
colors, finding exactly the correct hue.
Once we approve the change by clicking OK in the
Color Picker and again in the Channel Options dialog box, the
Channels palette is updated. (Notice the name of the channel was
automatically changed for us.)
Now the value of Multichannel mode comes to the
front. We can edit the individual channels using painting tools,
selections, masks, adjustment commands, even filters. Each
channel is nothing more than a grayscale image. In this case, we
can erase everything from the Red channel except the lipstick,
removing the tint from the lipstick tube.
We can even have both channels visible and only
one channel active while we edit. Here, we're monitoring the
overall look of the image by making sure that both channels have
"eyeballs" in the left column of the Channels palette. But note
that only the Black channel is active.
We could even add another spot channel (if we
wanted to go three color printing) by dragging the Black channel
to the New Channel button in the Channels palette and then
assigning it a color through Channel Options.
Duotone images, such as the image we used in the
first installment of this series, can also be converted to
Multichannel. That gives you the opportunity to edit the
channels individually, just as we did here.
(You cannot return to Duotone mode from
Multichannel – remember that you can create duotones only from
grayscale images.)
Multichannel images can be saved as Photoshop,
Raw, or DCS 2.0. DCS, you'll recall, stands for Desktop Color
Separations, and allows you to create individual files from the
color channels, with or without a composite image. It is a
variation of EPS.
It is (as always) a good idea to check with your
printer about file formats (and other specifications) before
creating images that will go to press. |