I've been trying to figure out how to implement in PSE, the Channels function present in PS, that lets you split a photo into its constituent RGB components. I have used Richard Lynch's excellent Power Tools to do this in earlier versions of PSE, but they are not working in PSE 5. I originally tried performing the step by step method outlined in his "Hidden Power of PSE 2." That worked, but it was too easy to get lost part way through the 14 step/channel recipe. Anyway, I think I have figured out an easier way to do it (at least for me ) that I think is doing the same thing.

*********************************************************** Start with an image you want to split into RGB components.

Duplicate the "Background" layer. You'll get a new layer called "Background copy," make sure it is selected.

Press Ctrl+L to bring up the Levels dialog.

Select the Blue Channel and set the Output level to 0. Also do this to the Green Channel. Click OK.

With the "Background copy" layer still selected, press Shift+Ctrl+U to remove the color from the layer.

Duplicate the "Background copy" layer. You'll get a new layer called "Background copy 2."

Change the blend mode of both the "Background copy," and "Background copy 2" layers, to Linear Dodge.

Make sure only those two layers are visible, then press Shift+Ctrl+E to merge the visible layers. Rename the resultant layer to "Red."

Repeat for the Blue and Green channels, except for the Green channel you will set Red and Blue output levels to 0 in the Levels dialog box, and for the Blue channel, Red and Green get set to 0.
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You should now have three layers named "Red," "Green," and "Blue," each a
grayscale representation of one color channel. When you are done working with the split apart image you can reasemble it into a color image with the method below.

*********************************************************** Select the Red layer.

Press Ctrl+L to bring up the Levels dialog, select the Blue Channel and set the Output level to 0. Also do this to the Green Channel. Click OK, then change the blend mode to Linear Dodge.

Similiarly for the Blue and Green layers, making sure to set Red and Green Channels to 0 for the Blue layer, and Red and Blue Channels to 0 for the Green layer.

Merge the Red, Blue, and Green layers.
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I have been using this with good results, but sure wouldn't swear I haven't missed something.

Greg Knox

Greg

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Channels Work-Around In PSE 5