Choosing foreground and background colors

Choosing foreground and background colors

Photoshop uses the foreground color to paint fill and stroke selections and the background color to make gradient fills and fill in the erased areas of an image. The foreground and background colors are also used by some special effects filters.

You can designate a new foreground or background color using the eyedropper tool the

Color palette the Swatches palette or the Adobe Color Picker.

The default foreground color is black and the default background color is white (In an alpha channel the default foreground is white and the background is black.)

Using color settings in the toolbox

The current foreground color appears in the upper color selection box in the toolbox the current background color appears in the lower box.

The Info palette the Color palette and the Adobe Color Picker let you display color values using a number of color models (See About color modes and models (Photoshop) on section 86

To change the foreground or background color:

Do one of the following:

To change the foreground color click the upper color selection box in the toolbox.

To change the background color click the lower color selection box in the toolbox.

Choose a color in the Adobe Color Picker (See "Using the Adobe Color Picker on section 261

To reverse the foreground and background colors:

Click the Switch Colors icon in the toolbox.

To restore the default foreground and background colors:

Click the Default Colors icon in the toolbox.

Using the eyedropper tool

The eyedropper tool samples color to designate a new foreground or background color. You can sample from the active image or from anywhere else on the screen.

You can also specify the area sampled by the eyedropper tool For example you can set the eyedropper to sample the color values of a 3-by-3-pixel area under the pointer. Modifying the sample size of the eyedropper affects the color readouts displayed in the Info palette.

To select the foreground or background color:

Select the eyedropper tool .

To change the sample size of the eyedropper choose an option from the Sample

Size menu:

Point Sample to read the precise value of the pixel you click.

3 by 3 Average or 5 by 5 Average to read the average value of the specified number of pixels within the area you click.

Do one of the following:

To select a new foreground color click in the image Alternately position the pointer over the image press the mouse button and drag anywhere on the screen. The foreground color selection box changes dynamically as you drag Release the mouse button to pick the new color.

To select a new background color Alt-click ( Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) in the image Alternately position the pointer over the image press Alt ( Windows) or Options

(Mac OS) press the mouse button and drag anywhere on the screen. The background

color selection box changes dynamically as you drag Release the mouse button to pick the new color.

To use the eyedropper tool temporarily while using any painting tool hold down Alt

(Windows) or Option (Mac OS).

Using the Color palette

The Color palette displays the color values for the current foreground and background colors Using the sliders in the Color palette you can edit the foreground and background colors according to several different color models. You can also choose a foreground or background color from the spectrum of colors displayed in the color ramp at the bottom of the palette.

The Color palette may display the following alerts when you select a color:

In Photoshop an exclamation point inside a triangle appears above the left side of the color ramp when you choose a color that cannot be printed using CMYK inks.

For more information see "Identifying out-of-gamut colors (Photoshop) on section 136

A cube appears above the left side of the color ramp when you choose a color that is not Web-safe For more information see "Using Web-safe colors on section 262

To display the Color palette:

Choose Window > Color or click the Color palette tab.

To change the color model of the color sliders:

Choose a Sliders option from the Color palette menu For more information on the different color models see About color modes and models (Photoshop) on section 86. To change the spectrum displayed in the color ramp:

Choose an option from the Color palette menu:

RGB Spectrum CMYK Spectrum (Photoshop) or Grayscale Ramp to display the spectrum of the specified color model.

Current Colors to display the spectrum of colors between the current foreground color and the current background color.

To display only Web-safe colors choose Make Ramp Web Safe (See "Using Web-safe colors on section 262

To change the spectrum of the color ramp quickly Shift-click in the color ramp until you see the spectrum you want.

To select the foreground or background color:

To edit the foreground or background color make sure that its color selection box is active (outlined in black). To make the foreground or background color selection box active click the box.

Do one of the following:

. Drag the color sliders By default the slider colors change as you drag In Photoshop, you can turn off this feature to improve performance by deselecting Dynamic Color Sliders in the General section of the Preferences dialog box.

Enter values next to the color sliders.

Click the color selection box choose a color using the color picker and click OK.

. Position the pointer over the color ramp (the pointer becomes the eyedropper), and click to sample a color Alt-click to apply the sample to the non-active color selection box.

Using the Swatches palette

You can choose a foreground or background color from the Swatches palette or you can add or delete colors to create a custom swatch library Creating libraries of swatches can help you group related or special swatches and manage palette size.

Note: You can also use the Preset Manager to manage libraries. For more information, see "Managing libraries with the Preset Manager (Photoshop)" on section 54

To display the Swatches palette:

Choose Window > Swatches or click the Swatches palette tab. To change how swatches are displayed (Photoshop): Choose a display option from the Swatches palette menu:

Small Thumbnail to display a thumbnail of each swatch. This is the default view.

Small List to display the name and thumbnail of each swatch.

To select a foreground or background color:

Do one of the following:

To choose a foreground color click a color in the Swatches palette.

To choose a background color Ctrl-click ( Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) a color in the Swatches palette.

To load a library of swatches:

Choose one of the following from the Swatches palette menu:

Load Swatches to add a library to the current list Select the library file you want to use, and click Load.

Replace Swatches to replace the current list with a different library Select the library file you want to use and click Load.

A library file (displayed at the bottom of the palette menu) Click OK to replace the current list or click Append to append the current list.

To add a color to the Swatches palette:

Do one of the following:

Make the color you want to add the foreground color and click the New Swatch button in the Swatches palette Alternately choose New Swatch from the Swatches palette menu.

(Photoshop) Make the color you want to add the foreground color Position the pointer over an empty space in the bottom row of the Swatches palette (the pointer turns into the paint bucket tool) and click to add the color Enter a name for the new color and click OK.

(ImageReady) Drag the foreground color selection box or the background color selection box from the toolbox to the Swatches palette.

(ImageReady) Drag a swatch from the Color Table palette to the Swatches palette. Note New colors are saved in the Preferences file so that they persist between editing sessions. To permanently save a color save it in a library.

To duplicate a color in the Swatches palette (ImageReady):

Select the color you want to duplicate and choose New Swatch from the Swatches palette menu.

To delete a color from the Swatches palette:

Do one of the following:

Drag a swatch to the Trash button .

. (Photoshop) Hold down Alt ( Windows) or Option (Mac OS) position the pointer over a swatch (the pointer turns into scissors) and click.

(ImageReady) Select a swatch and choose Delete Swatch from the Swatches palette menu.

To save a set of swatches as a library:

Choose Save Swatches from the Swatches palette menu.

Choose a location for the swatch library enter a filename and click Save.

You can save the library anywhere However if you place the library file in the Presets/ Swatches folder inside the Photoshop program folder the library name will appear at the bottom of the Swatches palette menu after you restart the application.

To return to the default library of swatches:

Choose Reset Swatches from the Swatches palette menu. You can either replace the current list or append the default library to the current list.