farvekanal

farvekanal, Latin Am. In digital imaging, a farvekanal (or colour channel) refers to a single component of a colour image that represents the intensity of a particular colour hue. In most common colour models, three farvekanaler—red, green and blue (RGB)—compose the data for each pixel. Each channel is recorded as a numeric array, where the value at a given position indicates the brightness of that colour component at that pixel. The combination of the three channels determines the overall hue, saturation and luminance that a human observer perceives.

In monochromatic imaging, a single farvekanal contains grey‑scale information. When additional transparency information is needed, a fourth channel, often called an alpha channel, is appended to represent opacity levels for each pixel. In printing, the CMYK colour model uses four farvekanaler—cyan, magenta, yellow and black—to produce physical colour by ink lay‑down; the values of these channels are mathematically derived from the RGB values of a scanned or digital source image. Colour separation in pre‑press workflows relies on accurate farvekanaler to ensure each printer’s ink contributes correctly to the final composite.

Image editing software provides tools to manipulate individual farvekanaler. Users can adjust brightness, contrast, hue shift or apply mathematical operations such as blending, masking and channel swapping. Advanced techniques like channel mixing or selective colour correction exploit differences between farvekanaler to achieve subtle or dramatic visual effects. Understanding how farvekanaler encode colour information is essential for graphics designers, photographers and anyone involved in the creation, manipulation or reproduction of digital images.