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            <div class="Photoshop"><table><tr><td class="banner">Adobe Photoshop CS4</td><td class="pod"><img src="images/PDF.gif" width="16" height="16" hspace="15" valign="50%" />&#160;&#160;
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                <h1>
                    Color channels
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                <div><p>Every Photoshop image has one
or more <dfn class="term">channels, </dfn>each storing information about color
elements in the image. The number of default color channels in an image
depends on its color mode. By default, images in Bitmap, Grayscale, Duotone,
and Indexed Color mode have one channel; RGB and Lab images have three;
and CMYK images have four. You can add channels to all image types except
Bitmap mode images. For more information, see <a href="http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-73eea.html" target="_blank">Color
modes</a>.</p>
<p>Channels in color images are actually grayscale images that represent
each of the color components of an image. For example, an RGB image
has separate channels for red, green, and blues color values.</p>
<p>In addition to color channels, <dfn class="term">alpha</dfn><dfn class="term">channels</dfn>,
can be added to an image for storing and editing selections as masks,
and spot color channels can be added to add spot color plates for
printing. For more information, see <a href="WS6EC2A68B-AE8D-4987-87E2-28272B744445a.html">Channels</a>.</p>
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                    <div><p><a href="WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-76c2a.html">About masks and alpha channels</a></p>
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                    <p><a href="http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WSBFDB3D2F-A3E8-447f-A49A-787D27798562a.html" title="http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WSBFDB3D2F-A3E8-447f-A49A-787D27798562a.html">About spot colors (adobe.com)</a></p>
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