Using the Colour Channels to Make Selections

Creating selections is integral to almost any Photoshop procedure. Although Photoshop provides many tools and features that make creating selections easier, don't overlook the manual approach.

In many RGB images, the best place to create a selection is through one of the Red, Green, or Blue channels. Search through the Color channels for the image with enough contrast to easily identify the object you're trying to select. For instance, to select a blue sky from a landscape, you'd begin in the Blue channel. In the Blue channel, the darkest shape would be the landscape--ideal for selecting with the Wand selection tool. Keep in mind that creating selections through the Color channels does require a little knowledge of color theory; however, you can get pretty far by just experimenting. 

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