Using Channel Mixer for Color Grading in Photoshop

today we're gonna be learning how to use channel mixer for calibrating in Photoshop though there are tons of ways of calibrating in Photoshop this method uses the fundamental principle of RGB within an RGB which if you understand I bet you have a lot of fun and also calibrating will become a breeze so without any further ado let's get started so here we are first up and if you want to follow along using this but make sure to go ahead and download that using the links in the description now Before we jump into any of color grading and all that stuff let's understand the concepts because concepts her major so you already know we already know that every image that you see on the screen is composed of three colors red green and blue which can easily be represented by channels in Photoshop so we have this image already open if we move two channels we have three different channels red green and blue and all of these three channels combined together to form the RGB channel which you see is full colored now some of you might ask which have already addressed before that why are they black and white they're not black and white they are just representation as you can see if we move back to RGB if we look at the full color you see this area is little bit bluish right so if we move to the blue channel have a look this area is so bright here right but this area is not so bright and the green area is also not so bright but if you move back to RGB look at the green area this area has a lot of green so if we move to the green Channel have a look this area is so brighter than this area but in the blue Channel the opposite happened this area is better than this area why because this had blue and this had Queen and that's how it works these are all just representations the brighter the area the more the color of that particular Channel for example in this this area is bright this area is dark which means that this area has more of blue than this area similarly in this one this area is bright which means that this area has more of green than this area so these are representations so just a quick little tip if you having trouble seeing different channels in black and white you can also change them to color here to do it go to edit preferences and then interface if you're using a Mac the Preferences would be under your Photoshop menu preferences and then we have interface now there's an option called show channels in color just check that and click OK now as you can see every channel now shows up in color see this area has a lot of blue this area doesn't have so much of a blue and that makes sense but black unlikely presentations gave you a much more better look at which color is more rare right so we're going to change it back to black and white but if you are comfortable with this stick with this okay preferences then interface just check off the option and there we go now what does channel mixer has to do with it you might ask good question let me just show you but before I do as the name suggests channel mixer allows you to control how the three channels interact with each other okay let's just add channel mixer and you can add this as an adjustment layer and also as an adjustment so but if you're adding this as an adjustment make sure you convert this into a smart object let's unlock the layer by clicking on the lock and then right click convert to smart object now you can add it by going to image adjustments there we have the channel mixer right here now if you do any adjustments and click OK it will open up as a smart filter which you can always go ahead and double click and change and that's why I asked you to convert this into a smart object that's one way okay let's go back also another way is using an adjustment layer which I prefer because if you are working on several layers and if you want to add that adjustments to every other layer everything which is beneath it if you are especially working on a composite then adjustment layer might be the one you might want to use and also you can limit the adjustment layer to just one layer by using a clipping mask okay so let's go ahead and click on this gray white icon and choose channel mixer now this is very simple to use you don't need to be intimidated by the way it looks it's really simple let's just move it to the left so that you have a better look at it now on the preset panel we can choose the preset that we have already saved and that's pretty much is self-explanatory there are several presets already given we don't want that this is important the output channel this is the channel that we are working on right now so we are working on the red channel or the green channel or the blue channel so the channel in which we are right now working on so suppose you want to work in the red Channel now once you have chosen the red Channel don't think these sliders control red green or blue these sliders only control the amount of red the only work these letters will do is that they will increase or decrease the value of red because you have chosen red in the main channel section and that's what it will do but why do we have three sliders then good question if you increase the slider of this one to the right of the red it will increase the value of red in the red areas listen to this carefully if you increase the slider of the red okay it will increase the value of red in the red areas if you take it to the left it will decrease the value of red from the red areas similarly with the green slider if you increase the green it will increase the value of red in the green areas if you decrease it it will take away the value of red from the green areas okay makes sense now some of you might ask why was this 100 and why are these zero by default let's just reset that because we are in the red Channel again in the red Channel we'll have red hundred and the rest zero similarly in the green Channel we have green hundred and the rest zero and that kind of explains it all because we are working on the red or the green or the blue Channel and in that particular Channel red or green or blue whatever channel that is is the dominant color and that's why we have that 200 now let's move back to the red Channel so if we increase the value of the red slider the only thing that will happen is to increase the red in the red areas okay all these letters do again I'm going to tell you all these sliders do is that increase or decrease the value of red but we have three sliders why because they determine the area from which to decrease or increase the value so let's increase the value of red in the red areas just a little bit and let's decrease the valley of red from the green areas does it look good no let's increase it just a little bit just like that and do let's take it to the left you want to take away the Reds from the blue areas ok see we are taking away the Reds from these blue areas it's looking fine now what is this total let's pause for a second then let's understand what total means so suppose you have three glasses red green and blue see glasses and you have one bottle full of red color and that's just one liter ok one liter bottle full of red color and three glasses or tumblers colored red green and blue now you can fill up the red a little bit more and green less and the blue less and finish the bottle or you can fill green a little more red a little less and blue a little less with the bottles completely empty or you can do anything you can try any combinations but you can finish the bottle right and that situation is when the total is 100 but if the total is beyond hundred then you are adding extra color you are taking another bottle you are borrowing another bottle and filling it even more into the glasses that's when you are using more than one liter more than what came with the image that one liter that came with the image now you're using more that's when the total exceeds but if the total is less than 100 you are not using the complete bottle maybe you're drinking it but you're filling less and the total doesn't sum up to one liter in the glasses so that's what it is if your total exceeds hundred which means you're adding extra color increasing the overall saturation increasing the overall value of the red channel and if that value is less than hundred which means you're not using up the complete red decreasing the overall saturation of the red channel and that's what it is so it's better it said it's recommended that you move the value so much that the value goes to a hundred just like this to maintain the balance but I find it to be creatively useful to go beyond or below hundred that's totally up on you that's a creative goal okay but if you want to be totally balanced you can balance it and be at 100 or below 100 so all in all we can say that if the value is at 100 we are using all of the red all of the color that came with the image and we are just changing the distribution if you are increasing the red in the red areas we have to decrease it from somewhere to keep the value at 100 so we are changing the distribution but the amount that we use is just the same if the value is more than hundred we are using extra color we are taking up color from somewhere and using it increasing the overall saturation of the channel if the value is lesser than 100 we are not using up all the colors and that's completely a creative score so once you are satisfied with this I want to increase the value of there and not to decrease so much from the Blues there we go 131 is fine make sure the color is not so much that the image is losing any details or the pixels are breaking or showing some banding just make sure that doesn't happen okay let's move on to the green channel now we want to increase the value of green in the green areas okay so it looks good right looks fine let's try the red you want to increase the value of green in the red areas just a little bit and want to decrease the value of green from the blue areas just a little bit and here's the thing you just have red green and blue here but what if you want to access more colors it's simple just remember the opposite the opposite of red is San the opposite of green is magenta and the opposite of blue is yellow so we are in the green Channel if you want to add more magenta to the blue areas all you have to do take the slider to the left and as you can see this adds more magenta to the blue area okay so that's how you access extra colors just remember the opposite how to remember the opposites RGB CMYK you remember that right RGB see my RS the opposite of C G is the opposite of M cm and B is the opposite of Y which means blue is the opposite up get up simple now let's move on let's increase the rich just a little bit more there we go let's come to the blue Channel and in this also we have a green bottle of one liter we have three glasses red green and blue and we are just distributing if the sum of the water or the color in the glasses is more than one liter you're using extra color and the value is more than hundred if the sum of the water in the glasses is less than 100 is less than one liter the value is less than 100 you are using less colors using let's move to blue so we want to increase the blue in the blue areas but a decrease blues now here's the trick these are sunrays right and we want the sunrays to be yellow now what's the opposite of blue yellow right so if we take this ladder now this area is mostly red area right this sunshine area so you want to make this area more yellowish so what these sliders do they increase or decrease the value of the channel you have selected now what's the opposite of blue yellow so if we take this ladder to the left what color will we get yellow right so let's take this ladder see it makes it shadow stick sees the greens makes it even more yellow so on now you can take as much time as you want in this and there we go have a look at the before and after let me just close it so that you can have a better look so this is the before this is the after we just quickly did it if you have more time you can spend more time at just experiment and see how different adjustments look and that's pretty much it about channel mixer in Photoshop just remember this every image is made up of red green and you and then when you add the channel mixer you can control the amount of red green and blue in red green and blue areas so that was RGB within an RGB interesting isn't it now first you select the channel you want to work on for example you chose red then all these three sliders do is that control the amounts of red in red areas green areas and blue areas and that's pretty much the same for all channels now here's one more important thing which we skipped which is not that much important but important you know there's one more slider here constant slider now what that slider does if you're in the blue Channel if you increase it it increases the overall value of the channel up until now even increasing the values only in specific areas but this is like increasing the overall value of the channel for example you have red green and blue and these are increasing the Reds in the red areas green areas blue area so on support but this increases the overall value of the channel red green and blue so this is the blue you're increasing the overall value okay not so much useful but just so you know it's always there you're going to make add a little tint to the photo you can use this to do whatever you want okay let's go back I didn't quite like it so that pretty much wraps up the channel mixer in Photoshop I hope you enjoyed this and if you did make sure to give it a like and also don't forget to subscribe and not just subscribe ring the bell so that you don't miss any other future tips tricks tutorials and even live stream you get notified when I have a live thing the RCM I like until then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating [Music]

Channel: PiXimperfect

Views: 219,913

Keywords: channel mixer in photoshop, color grading photoshop, cinematic color grading photoshop, rgb, channels in photoshop, channel mixer adjustment layer, adjustment layers photoshop, enhance color in photoshop, color correction in photoshop, photoshop tutorial, piximperfect

Id: NhLXYGXaPe0

Length: 14min 58sec (898 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 13 2017