MY CARTHow to Select a Color Using the Color Picker in Photoshop: Video Lesson
This video lesson, titled “Learn How to Select Color Using the Color Picker Dialog Box in Adobe Photoshop: A Training Tutorial,” shows you how to select a color by using the Color Picker in Photoshop. This video lesson is from our complete Photoshop tutorial, titled “Mastering Photoshop Made Easy.”
Overview of How to Use the Color Picker in Photoshop:
The Color Picker in Photoshop is one of several tools you can use to select colors in Photoshop. To use the “Color Picker” dialog box to set the foreground or background color in Photoshop, click either the foreground or background color selection box in the Tools panel, depending on which color you want to set.
Then either visually select a color in the “Color Picker” dialog box that appears by using the color field and color slider shown or type numeric values for each color component into the fields provided, if you know the desired color’s values. Depending on if you clicked the foreground or background color, its name appears in parentheses to the right of the dialog box name in the title bar of the “Color Picker” dialog box.
How to Select a Color Using the Color Field and Color Slider:
To visually select a color using the color field and color slider in the “Color Picker” dialog box, first select an option button next to the HSB, RGB, Lab, or CMYK values in the color picker. To then select a color, click and drag the white triangles next to the color slider up and down to select the general color. Then click your mouse inside the color field to place the circle over the color to select. Your selected color then appears to the right of the color slider, as the “new” color choice, above your “current” foreground or background color choice.
How to Select a Color by Its Color Value:
Alternatively, to manually enter color values to select a color in the “Color Picker” dialog box, enter the desired color’s color component values into the fields for the desired “HSB,” “RGB,” “Lab,” or “CMYK” color values. To enter a hexadecimal color value, if desired, type it into the field to the right of the “#” label.
How to Select a Color from the Color Libraries:
Alternatively, to select a color from the “Color Libraries” dialog box, which lets you select from common, formally defined colors in color books like HKS or TRUMATCH, click the “Color Libraries” button in the “Color Picker” dialog box to close it and switch to the “Color Libraries” dialog box. Then select the desired color book from which to select a color from the “Book” drop-down.
To look for a color visually, click and drag in the color slider and then click the desired color to its left. Alternatively, to select a color in the color book by name, type its color name or color number on your keyboard to select that color in the current color book. To apply the selected color in the “Color Libraries” dialog box, click the “OK” button. Alternatively, to return to the “Color Picker” dialog box, click the “Picker” button in the “Color Libraries” dialog box.
Viewing and Correcting Out of Gamut Colors in the Color Picker:
If the selected color in the “Color Picker” dialog box is out of the CMYK printing color gamut range, then an exclamation point icon appears to the right of the selected color in the “Color Picker” dialog box. To view the printable CMYK colors in the “Color Picker” dialog box, select “View| Gamut Warning” from the Menu Bar or press the keyboard shortcut of “Ctrl” + “Shift” + “Y” on your keyboard.
Out-of-gamut colors then appear as gray areas in the “Color Picker” dialog box. You can select the same command or keyboard shortcut again to toggle it off, if desired. If needed, to automatically change the selected color to select the nearest in-gamut CMYK color, instead, click the box below the exclamation point icon.
Viewing and Correcting Web Colors in the Color Picker:
To restrict your color selection in Photoshop to the 216 web-safe colors reliably shown by web browsers regardless of platform if selecting a color intended for web browser display, check the “Only Web Colors” checkbox in the lower-left corner of the “Color Picker” dialog box to restrict yourself to only selecting from those web-safe colors. If the “Only Web Colors” checkbox is unchecked and you select a color in the “Color Picker” dialog box that isn’t considered web-safe, a small cube icon appears to the right of the color in the “Color Picker” dialog box. If needed, to then select the nearest web-safe color to the selected color, click the box that appears under the cube icon.
How to Apply, Cancel, or Rest a Color in the Color Picker in Photoshop:
To apply your color choice after making your desired color selection in the “Color Picker” dialog box in Photoshop, click the “OK” button. Alternatively, to cancel the color selection and close the dialog box, click the “Cancel” button. To reset your new color, if needed, hold down the “Alt” key on your keyboard (“Option” for Macs) and then press the “Reset” button that replaces the “Cancel” button.
How to Add a Color from the Color Picker as a Swatch in the Swatches Panel:
Alternatively, to add the current color choice in the “Color Picker” dialog box of Photoshop as a new swatch to the Swatches panel, click the “Add to Swatches” button to open the “Color Swatch Name” dialog box. Then type a name for the color, check or uncheck the “Add to my current library” checkbox to add or not add the swatch to your Creative Cloud Library, and then click the “OK” button. The color then appears in the Swatches panel so you can easily select it in the future.
