Using the eyedropper tool

The eyedropper tool (also called the color-picker tool) is one of those great little things that I take for granted when I’m digi scrapping. It’s sort of an unsung hero of a tool because I use it all the time, but I never really mention it as something important to my digi scrapping process. When I asked some of our team members what they had to say about the eyedropper, this is how they responded:

I mainly use the eyedropper tool to sample a color from either my photo or the papers I’m using to change the color of my text. Other ways I use it is to sample a color from my photo to change the color of solid papers, or a color or two in patterned papers to better match. – Jenn

I use the eye dropper tool most often to fill in word art or alpha for a title. It helps draw colors together or add that needed dash of color. – Jacki

The main thing I do with the eyedropper tool is either sample colors from my photos to alter my paper colors. Or sample paper colors to ultimately alter my photo colors. – Wendy

How to use the eyedropper tool

I’m using Photoshop Elements 11, but the process is very similar in all Photoshop programs and even for other photo editing software as well.  I was in the middle of working on this layout, and I decided that I wanted to color my journaling to match the page. So I selected the eyedropper tool and placed it on one of my photos where I wanted to sample the color to use.

Once you’ve selected the color you like, you will see that the foreground color changes in the tool palette.

Of course you can also play around with the color picker on the eyedropper tool and try different variations.

Wendy has a few tips for this:

• The keyboard command is “i” and using SHIFT+i will cycle through the various eye dropper tools.
• You can hold in the shift key and click on a sample to leave a marker. Shift click several and you can use the info panel (window>info or F8) to see the color values of the various samples. That’s the same thing as selecting the “color sampler” version of the eyedropper tool.
• If you click and drag with the regular eye dropper tool, you can see how the color changes in the foreground color box.
• OPT+Clicking gets you a background color instead of foreground color. To reset your swatches to black and white, hit the D key. Swap your swatches with the X key.

Here’s my final layout with my blue text.

Love and Grace collab by The Lilypad designers. Template by Shabby Princess.

Such and easy way to add something special to a page! Have you ever used the eyedropper tool? Today’s a great day to try it out!