MY CARTHow to Select a Color Using the Eyedropper Tool in Photoshop: Video Lesson
This video lesson, titled “Learn How to Select a Color Using the Eyedropper Tool in Adobe Photoshop: A Training Tutorial,” shows you how to select a color by using the Eyedropper Tool in Photoshop. This video lesson is from our complete Photoshop tutorial, titled “Mastering Photoshop Made Easy.”
Overview of How to Use the Eyedropper Tool in Photoshop:
The Eyedropper tool in Photoshop lets you select a color from an image displayed in Photoshop or, if needed, anyplace else on your computer screen. To use the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop, select it from the Tools panel. The Eyedropper tool shares a button in the Tools panel with the 3D Material Eyedropper Tool, the Color Sampler Tool, the Ruler tool, the Note tool, and the Count tool.
How to Set the Foreground Color Using the Eyedropper Tool:
To set the foreground color in the current Photoshop document, then click and hold down the mouse in the Photoshop document within which to select the color. Then drag the Eyedropper tool around the screen and place the tool’s eyedropper icon over the desired color onscreen.
Notice that the Photoshop document’s foreground color box in the Tools panel changes to the color that is directly underneath the tool. If you are dragging to select a color only within the Photoshop app window, you will also see a large gray sampling ring appear around the tool’s eyedropper icon. The bottom half of the ring shows the current foreground color, and the top half shows the color over which you are currently hovering.
Note that this sampling ring disappears if you move the Eyedropper tool outside the Photoshop application window, but the current color choice over which you hover still appears for the foreground color box in the Tools panel. To turn the sampling ring on or off, check or uncheck the “Show Sampling Ring” checkbox in the Options bar Control panel. To select the current color with the Eyedropper tool, release the mouse button you are holding down to set the foreground color.
How to Set the Background Color Using the Eyedropper Tool:
Alternatively, to set the background color in Photoshop using the Eyedropper tool, hold down the “Alt” key (“Option” for Macs) on your keyboard. Then simply repeat the same process as when selecting the foreground color, and then release the “Alt” key (“Option” for Macs) on your keyboard as the last step, when finished.
How to Set the Size of the Pixel Sample for the Eyedropper Tool:
To change the size of the pixel sample used by the Eyedropper tool to select colors after selecting the Eyedropper tool, select either “Point Sample” or one of the averages from a square pixel selection from the “Sample Size” drop-down in the Options Bar Control panel. The “Point Sample” reads the exact color value of the pixel that you click with the eyedropper tool. The other choices read the average color value of the selected square area of pixels under the Eyedropper tool. To change the layers from which the Eyedropper tool selects its sample pixels in Photoshop, select a choice from the “Sample” drop-down.
Another handy feature of the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop is that when you have any painting tool selected, you can hold down the “Alt” key (“Option” for Macs) on your keyboard to temporarily turn the current painting tool into the Eyedropper tool for a quick foreground color change while painting.
