However, even that number is too high, since many different combinations yield the same color. The theoretical range is 101 * 101 * 101 * 101, equalling more than 100 million colors. The CMYK components do not use the full 256 possibilities that 8 bits can hold. But in reality, that amount isn’t achieved. CMYK has four components, so in theory 256 * 256 * 256 * 256 colors are possible, over 4 billion of different combinations.Every combination yields a different color, so we really can code 16.7 different colors in 8-bit RGB. Given this 8-bit schema, how many colors are possible? That’s simple arithmetic, assuming three components of RGB: 256 x 256 x 256, which is about 16.7 million colors. Now that we have that clear, let’s move on to the next question. By the time we have assembled 8 bits, 256 different values are possible. Every bit extra multiplies the number of possibilities by 2. Put two bits together and they can hold 4 possible values: 00, 01, 10 or 11. It can store two possible values: 0 or 1. A bit is the smallest possible unit of information in computer memory. If you don’t know what 8-bit means, you first need to understand what one bit is. A next article will explore how bit depth impacts the editing process. In this article, I will explain what 8-bit and 16-bit mean, and how the extra 8 bits in the 16-bit way of coding are used. Yet, the unwary can happily save a 16-bit image as a JPEG because Photoshop, helpful as always, will do the conversion automatically. An obvious moment of conversion is at the very end of the process, if a JPEG output file is required: JPEG is 8-bit by definition. In that case, even a third option presents itself: 32-bit, which is out of scope for the current article. Go to the menu and Image – Mode – X Bits/Channel. Also, one can explicitly change the bit depth during editing in Photoshop itself.
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