Chapter 9: Understanding Color; Understanding Color - Adobe 65045315 - Photoshop Elements Use Manual

Chapter 9: Understanding color

In Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 10, you use two color models to manipulate color. One model is based on the way the
human eye sees color—hue, saturation, and brightness (HSB), while the other model is based on the way computer
monitors display color (in amounts of red, green, and blue or RGB). The color wheel is another tool that helps you
understand the relationships between colors. Photoshop Elements provides four image modes that determine the
number of colors displayed in an image: RGB, bitmap, grayscale, and indexed color.

Understanding color

About color
The human eye perceives color in terms of three characteristics—hue, saturation, and brightness (HSB)—whereas
computer monitors display colors by generating varying amounts of red, green, and blue (RGB) light. In
Photoshop Elements, you use the HSB and RGB color models to select and manipulate color. The color wheel can help
you understand the relationships between colors.
HSB model
Based on the human perception of color, the HSB model describes three fundamental characteristics of color:
The color reflected from or transmitted through an object. It is measured as a location on the standard color
Hue
wheel, expressed as a degree between 0 and 360. In common use, hue is identified by the name of the color, such as
red, orange, or green.
The strength or purity of the color. Saturation, which is sometimes called chroma, represents the amount
Saturation
of gray in proportion to the hue, measured as a percentage from 0 (gray) to 100 (fully saturated). On the standard color
wheel, saturation increases from the center to the edge.
The relative lightness or darkness of the color, usually measured as a percentage from 0 (black) to 100
Brightness
(white).
Although you can use the HSB model in Photoshop Elements to define a color in the Color Picker dialog box, you
cannot use the HSB mode to create or edit images.
B
0
100
A
0
HSB view in the Adobe Color Picker
A. Saturation B. Hue C. Brightness
360
100
C
0
Last updated 1/2/2012
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