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Cool Effects using Photoshop Channels

by BarryHilton, Adult NetSurprise

Welcome to our tutorial on using Photoshop Channels... in this tutorial we'll be using a grid to show the different effects, if you would like to follow the tutorial displaying the examples below, please download the following .psd file...

Download Channels .psd file here!

Here is our starting file, which we'll be using in all our examples on how to use Channels:

As you will see, the file is made up of two layers, the Grid and the black background layer. The first thing we'll look at is Saving a marquee selection as Channel (so you can call back the selection at any time). Start by selecting the Marquee tool from the main tool bar and draw a random pattern on your grid... you can use any combination of rectangular and eliptical marquees you want... to add to your selection hold SHIFT, or to subtract hold ALT. Here's the marquee we made earlier...

To save your selection as a channel, go to the Select drop down menu and choose Save Selection... name this selection Random. Now press ctrl D to deactivate your marquee. To load the selection again, go to the Select drop down menu and choose Load Selection, change the Channel to Random (the name of your saved marquee) and click OK...

This way you cans ave as many Marquee selections as you like, so they can be used over and over again when you're working on a complicated graphic.

Now you have your selection saved as a Channel, you can apply nearly any of the filters to make special effects... this is because the Channel is saved as a black and white image (black transparent / white opaque / grey somewhere in between!) and not as a regular selection marquee.

Press ctrl D to deactivate any marquees you might have, then go to the Channel menu (Window > Show Channel). You will see several Channels in addition to your saved marquee, RGB, Red, Green and Blue (these make up the color information of your image). Click on the Randon layer name to select it. This is how our example looks...

Now, go to the Filter drop down menu and select Blur, then Gausian Blur and enter the values below:

Click OK and your Channel will become blurred like our example below...

Find the small button showing a dotted circle at the bottom of the Channels Menu (Load a Channel as a Selection) and click it! Then go to the main Layers menu, and click the Add a Mask button at the bottom, it's a small shaded rectangle with a circle cut out in the middle! Your grid will now look something like this...

Press ctrl z, to return to our original grid. Then press ctrl D to remove the marquee selection.

In our next example we're going to draw directly on a Channel, by applying a gradient fill to make our transparency. Go to the Channels menu again and click the small button at the bottom with a square with a triangle cut out of it's bottom left corner (Create a New Channel).

Now, select the Gradient tool from the main tool bar. Then click the tiny Black and White boxes under the Foreground and Background color boxes. this will reset your Foreground and Background colors to Black foreground and White Background. (this may reverse to White Foreground / Black Background when you select your new Channel Layer)

Look at the Gradient Options menu and make sure you have the Foreground to Background gradient selected. Draw a diagonal gradient with black in the bottom right corner fading to white in the top left corner like our example below...

Click the buttom at the bottom of the Channel menu with the dotted circle again (Load a Channel as a Selection), then go back to the Layer menu and click the small button showing a dotted circle at the bottom of the Channels Menu (Load a Channel as a Selection). You should now have a Grid like our example below...

By using Channels in your images you can create some awesome efffects that are nearly impossible to achieve any other way. They are especially useful on Logos and tour backgrounds to add interest and unusual design effects.