Member Avatar for GR Web FX

Hey people,

Yet again im a bit stuck with photoshop!!!

Basically i just wondered how you change colours when using channels?? ive been creating some buttons using layers, and when i go over over to the channels tab, i create a new channel called 'Alpha 1' then ive been filling my shape with a white fill. However this time i wanted to fill the shape with a blue. But when i choose a blue colour to fill, it just goes to a shade of grey!!! Does anyone know why this is happening?? The other colours in the channels tab are RGB.

Thansk alot

GR Web FX

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Dani AI

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Short answer first for : painting directly into an Alpha or any single channel will always record luminance/opacity, not a hue. When you pick blue while the Alpha channel is active, Photoshop writes the brightness of that blue into the channel, so it looks like grey. That behavior is intentional — channels and alpha masks store intensity values that you can use as selections or masks, not as colored pixels.

Practical ways to get a blue button while keeping a reusable channel/mask:

  • Shape-layer (recommended): use the Shape tool (U) set to “Shape,” choose your blue fill, then style the layer with Layer Styles (Stroke, Drop Shadow, Gradient Overlay). This keeps color editable and non‑destructive.

  • Selection → alpha → fill: make the shape selection, use Select > Save Selection to create an Alpha channel if you want to store the mask. Later Ctrl/Cmd‑click the Alpha thumbnail to load the selection, create a new layer, pick your blue and fill (Edit > Fill or Alt/Option+Backspace). For a non‑destructive variant, create a Solid Color fill layer and apply the selection as its mask.

Quick troubleshooting checks: confirm the document is in RGB mode (Image > Mode) so full color is available; don’t try to add hue while a single channel is targeted; use layer masks rather than painting into Alpha for safer editing; save as PSD to keep masks and layers. These steps let you use channels as saved masks while keeping your visible artwork fully colored and exportable for the web (PNG‑24 for transparency).

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Member Avatar for mikeandike22

because you are either on the blue red green or black/white(alpha) channel

Member Avatar for GR Web FX

Oh right i see......how do i change the colour?? when i create alpha 1 the box fill colour is black. the other RGB colours dont have the 'eye' thing but my alpha level does. Ive noticed the background colours change when i click the eye thing of the RGB colours.

I basically just need to know how i can create a new channel, and make the fill colour of that channel a type of blue????

Thanks alot

GR Web FX

Member Avatar for mikeandike22

i dont really now i will have to see if there is some sort of channel properties box or something like that. i do know that you can copy channels so you can copy the blue, the red, or the green channel. I think that alpha is only black and white.

Member Avatar for GR Web FX

oh right i see, thanks alot :)

Member Avatar for Kezz

Channels are greyscale only - basically, they define a selection.
If you want to add colour, go back to your layers pallette and click on they layer you want to adjust.

Member Avatar for mikeandike22

channels are not grayscale only there only new channels alpha channels are grayscale there is also a red green and blue channel.

Member Avatar for Kezz

You're right (sort of ;)) - I should have been more specific.

Colour Channels are greyscale information about how much of a particular colour is present. If the image is RGB, there are 3 channels which in this way define how much colour information is present for each pixel for Red, Green and Blue respectively.
If the image is CMYK, there are 4 channels - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (Key).

So in this respect we're both right, they are greyscale, but the greyscale tones represent the amount of each colour present for a particular pixel. Photoshop allows you to see these channels in greyscale or colour - as defined in your preferences - it defaults to greyscale, as 98% transparent yellow is hard to see :)

Alpha channels are different but work in a similar way. In this case, as mikeandike22 pointed out, they are purely greyscale, and can be used to define a selection where the different grades of grey define transparency.

Hope this clears things up a bit.

Member Avatar for GR Web FX

Thanks for all your help, i think i was maybe barking up the wrong tree!
Ive enroled myself on a photoshop cs course at University which started a week ago! Hopefully that will stop me asking dodgy questions!! :lol:

Member Avatar for mikeandike22

no question is a stupid question (please ppl dont argue about that statement at least here it is true because ppl are learning from every question on this forum.

Member Avatar for Kezz

I agree - there's no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid answers ;)

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