Photoshop Color Modes

There are various types of color modes through which one can work in Photoshop. One of the most prominent color modes in Photoshop and the other graphic softwares is the RGB color mode. RGB refers to Red, Blue and Green which are the primary colors. Combining these 3 colors in different colors can create a total of 16.8 million colors. RGB mode is used when the images are published for the internet and have to be displayed on the computer screen. All the colors have a value of 255 each and hence changing the value from 0 to 255 for each color produces 16.8 million colors. If all the 3 values are equal then a neutral gray is produced. If the value of a color is higher than the other colors then a color created has more tones or tints of the color having the highest value.

The CYMK color scheme or mode is another very well known color scheme in Photoshop. The CYMK color scheme is generally used when the image or the graphic created is to be printed on paper. This scheme is based on the light absorbing quality on paper. CYMK images comprises of colors produced from the combination of 4 colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Like the RGB mode, the user has to enter values for each color to get the desired color.

Hence it is very necessary to enter the color mode before creating the document as converting an already created image to a different color mode may lead to loss of certain colors from the image. RGB is the default color mode of Photoshop. It supports almost all types of file formats, the chief amongst them being Jpeg and Gif images. 

The other very common mode is the grayscale mode used when the images to be created are in black and white.  In Grayscale mode, all on has to do is enter a value from 256 levels of grey to get the desired color. The value 0 signifies total black while the value 255 signifies total white.

To access color mode from Photoshop Elements 4.0 go to Image>Mode; Color mode include grayscale, RGB and CMYK as shown in this picture. Photoshop Elements supports bitmap, grayscale, indexed and RGB color mode as demonstrated in the picture above.

Apart from Grayscale mode there are the monotone, duotone, Tritone and the Quadtone modes. The Monotone mode refer to the use of only one color, the Duotone mode refers to the use of only two colors, the Tritone mode refers to use of only 3 colors and the Quadtone mode refers to the use of four colors.

 There are also other color modes used for special purposes like lab color and indexed color modes.

Tutorials that use Coloring:

Changing Color - This tip will show you how to quickly change the color of your shirt or any items in a photo.

Color options for the interior design - Choose colors for the interior design easily and quickly.
 

Car color change - This tutorial will show you how to change the color of a car in a photo without losing its reflection.
 

RGB Filters in CMYK Mode - Apply filters available in RGB mode to CMYK images without changing the color mode.