7 Eyedropper
Used for finding
color values, and choosing colors
Found at #26 in the Toolbar diagram at left
The eyedropper, and the color sampler which is hidden under it (find
it by clicking, and holding on the eyedropper and then choosing it from
the menu) can be used for gathering color data for adjustment, and comparison
purposes. The eyedropper is also used for selecting foreground, and background
colors, and for identifying tone values when in the many command dialogs
such as the Gradient Editor, Replace Color, and Curves.
To change the foreground color, click with the eyedropper on the desired color anywhere in the current image, or in any other open image, active or not. To change the background color, Alt-click, with the eyedropper, on the desired color in any open window. The eyedropper tool can be temporarily accessed when using any painting tool by pressing the Alt key.
Please note that if you have the background color square selected in
the Color palette (showing double-lines
as shown below), colors sampled with the eyedropper tool will become the
new background colors (and Alt-clicking with the eyedropper will
change the foreground color). Click the foreground color square in the
Color palette to get the eyedropper
to sample foreground colors.
If the eyedropper cursor has a little target next to its left side, you
are using the color sampler tool and not the eyedropper. People often
add color sample dots to their picture by mistake (thinking they are using
the eyedropper) and then can’t figure out what those little things
are that are stuck to their picture. The color sampler cursor looks like
this:
The color sampler is used for monitoring color values from fixed locations.
These can be used for comparisons when making image adjustments. The before/after
data is displayed in the Info palette
[go the the Info palette page to see how the sampler data display works].
Up to four samples can be viewed at once. Click with the color sampler
to add a sample spot. Sample dots are numbered so you can tell which is
which by the corresponding number in the Info palette. Here are three
in a row (enlarged).
After adding a sample dot, you can move it to a new location by dragging
it. Or get rid of it by dragging it completely off the document. Samples
can also be removed by clicking the Clear button on the options bar, or
by using the context (right-click) menu.
The keyboard shortcut key for the eyedropper is the letter I. Holding down the Shift while pressing the shortcut key toggles you between the eyedropper, the color sampler, and the measure tool. In addition, once the eyedropper is selected, pressing the Shift key will switch you to the color sampler.
The illustration below (top), is the eyedropper’s options bar. To find any tool presets that have been made for this tool, click on the tool’s thumbnail at the left end of the options bar. To reset the tool to its default settings, right-click on the tool’s thumbnail and choose Reset Tool from the menu that appears.
Though the default Sample Size is Point Sample, it is widely recommended
that you use 3 by 3 Average since single pixels in photographs can contain
a wide variety of not particularly representative colors.
On the right below, is the context menu, found by right-clicking on the image when the eyedropper has been selected in the toolbox. As you can see, it’s the same as the Sample Size menu in the options palette menu except for the Copy Color as HTML choice. When selected, this will copy the hexadecimal color value for the color you click with the eyedropper, onto the clipboard. It can then be pasted into an HTML document.
The second options bar shown is for the color sampler. It’s the same as the eyedropper except for the Clear button which will remove all color sample dots from your document. Right-clicking on a color sample dot with the color sample tool gets the menu shown next to its options bar. Here you can choose the mode of the color values displayed in the Info palette.
If you have doodled with a tool’s options and want to get back to the default settings, right-click that tool’s icon at the far left end of its options bar (in Photoshop 6, left-click). Choose either Reset Tool to reset only the current tool, or Reset All Tools to restore default settings to every tool.
Please note that all descriptions, and illustrations featured refer to files which are in Photoshop’s .psd format, and which are in RGB color mode. Other file formats, and color modes may generate different options. Some Photoshop features are not available for images not in .psd format, or RGB color mode. To find what color mode your image is in, choose Image > Mode.
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