Using Channels

By using channels, effects and results can be achieved which are not possible any other way.

The original photograph was a fairly straight image of the hand holding the CD, against a graduated background. 

• This original was duplicated and the following work was done on the duplicate.
• The hand was cut out with the Pen Tool and put on a clear background.
• The three channels of Red, Green and Blue were selected in turn, by clicking on each channel in the Channels panel and going to Select All. 
  The selected channel was nudged and rotated a little out of register.
  

Photoshop In A Day explains all about channels and how they can be used and manipulated. 

• The colours of the CD seemed to be too strong.
  The CD was cut out from the original image and dragged on to the working image.
• The opacity of the CD layer was reduced to 40%, which toned down the colours of the CD held by the hand.
• The central plastic core of the CD was cut out and put on a new layer. Its opacity was set to 30%.

• A new layer was created under the hand layer. 
  The Gradient Tool filled it with the colours shown.

• A photograph of a circuit board was taken as a flat copy. It's useful to build a library of such objects as they can often be merged into other images.
• The circuit board was transferred to the working image and its shape was transformed to make it look like it was coming out of the CD.
• By making a selection of the CD and inverting the selection, unwanted parts of the circuit board could be removed.
  
  

• With the rest of the image visible, the circuit board could be viewed in different modes and different opacities to see what worked best. 
  I settled for Difference mode at 40%.
• Finally, a mask was used to fade out the circuit board image a little at the top.

It's usually best to save an image like this on a CD in layers. That way it's always possible to try alternatives at a later date. 

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