Technique 53 delves into this interesting topic.)If you’ve never really used the Channels palette before, the following list can give you an idea of (and the directions for!) working with the channels in the Channels palette:
Select an individual channel by clicking the channel’s name. When a channel is active, you can apply tonal adjustments such as levels or curves, or filters effects to the individual channel.
Select more than one channel at a time by holding down the Shift key and clicking the channels’ names.
Hide a specific channel by clicking the eye icon in the column to the left of the channel. View the channel again by clicking in the column.
Rename an alpha channel by double-clicking the alpha channel’s name and typing a new name. (Color channels cannot be renamed.)
Create a copy of a channel by right-clicking/Control+clicking the channel and then choosing Duplicate Channel from the menu. In the Duplicate Channel dialog box that opens, enter a name for the copy and choose whether it appears in the image that it was copied from or as a new image.
Delete a channel by dragging it to the trashcan icon at the bottom of the palette. If you delete a color channel, the image automatically converts to Multichannel mode. Multichannel mode is typically used for specialized offset printing.