The
-channel values refer to the channels for colorspaces RGBA or CMYKA.
Thus 'A' in the original example refers to the alpha channel (which is probably pure white or opaque) and not the 'A' channel of "LAB".
To get the 'A' channel of 'LAB' you would need to use name for the second RGB channel or "
-channel G"
Yes it seems silly, but it is the way the -channel are 'named'.
For details of getting the various channels see IM Examples,
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/color_basics/#channels
Also note that if your ImageMagick is not HDRI, then the channel values will have an offset.
See the example in Perceptual Colorspaces
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/color_ ... rspace_LAB
Note how the 'A' and 'B' channel images are mostly a mid-tone grey color do to the offset.
By doing this it makes the various image processing algorithms work correctly with unsigned integers. Something that is not a problem with HDRI versions which use a floating point store for the images.