I found this very interesting post called "Hex colors & bitwise operators" on www.tracestatement.com a while back and I've been meaning to blog about it.
Actionscript:
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// From hex value to r,g,b values
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var hex:uint = 0xFF8811;
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var r:uint = rgb>> 16;
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var g:uint = rgb>> 8 & 0xFF;
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var b:uint = rgb & 0xFF;
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//From r,g,b values to hex value
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hex = (r <<16) | (g <<8) | b;
This tiny bit of code allows you to rapidly subtract the Red, Green and Blue values from a hexadecimal colour code. Once you have the R, G, B bits you can then manipulate them and once done convert them back to a single Hex value.
An important thing to remember is bitmasking, this can be used to switch a set of bits either on or off.