Photoshop Eyedropper Tool

You will use Photoshop's "Color Picker" window to sample colors (using the 'Eyedropper Tool') and read their corresponding hexadecimal color values, RGB color values, or CMYK color values if you are printing the image.

In the Photoshop "General Preferences" window you can set the Color Picker to "Adobe" or use your computer's default color scale.

Color-Sampling with the Photoshop 'Eyedropper Tool'

If you are retouching a certain area with the Paint Brush Tool, you can use Photoshop's 'Eyedropper Tool' (I) to sample a color from the surrounding area. If you are retouching a large gradated area you will want to set your brush value to a lower opacity and resample in the lighter and darker areas of the tonal gradation.

If the photograph you are working on has a high noise level you will want to set the Eyedropper's "Sample Size" from the default setting of 'Point Sample' to a higher value of '3 by 3 Average,' or even '5 by 5 Average.' This will select the average color value over a wide pixel area, avoiding the odd results from sampling a noise pixel that does not reflect the overall area color.

If you are going to use the sampled color over a long period, save the color to your "Swatches" pallet window.

Return to: Photoshop Digital Photo Retouching Tutorials