Hayden Books: Creative Techniques
Creative Techniques
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Working with Channels:

Saving Selections

Art by Rich Lovato

Comments:
You can save selections so that you don't have to reselect an area every time you want to work with it. When you save a selection, it is automatically stored in a channel. (Think of a channel as a holding area for the selection.) Channels are also used to store color information about images. For example, in an RGB image, each color (red, green, and blue) is stored in a separate channel.

Studio Usage:
The ability to create and save intricate selections is an extremely important skill to develop when working with Photoshop. You will save a tremendous amount of time by saving selections. Each document can contain up to 24 channels.


1. Create a Selection
Click a selection tool in the toolbox; then create a selection marquee using the selection tools.


2. To Save the Selection
With the selection still active, choose Select-->Save Selection. The Save Selection dialog box appears. Click OK. The selection is saved in a channel, which can be thought of as a storage area.

Tip: Because saving selections is one of the most common tasks in Photoshop, you may want to place the Save Selection command in your Commands Palette.


3. To View and Name a Channel
Select the Channels palette tab and scroll to the bottom of the palette. A new channel, labeled #4, has been added to the palette. A thumbnail preview displays how your selection looks in the channel. Each time you create a new channel a number is assigned to it. As you add channels, the numbers are assigned in ascending order. To name a channel, double-click the numbered channel to select the Channel Options dialog box. Enter a name for the channel and then click OK.


4. To Load a Selection
Click the #0 channel at the top of the Channels palette to display the entire image. This channel, called the composite channel, displays all the color channels simultaneously. Choose Load Selection from the Select menu. The Load Selection dialog box appears. The Channel pop-up menu contains a list of all the channels in the document. Choose the desired channel from the pop-up menu and then click OK. The selection you created and saved appears in the document. Each time you edit a selection in the document, be sure to choose Select-->Save Selection to save the most recent version of the selection.