# How to Pick a Colour from a Photo in Photasium

> Pick a colour from a photo in the browser without uploading or creating an account. Open Picker in Photasium, click a pixel, and use that colour.

Pick a colour

A caption, a patch of paint, or a flat fill often needs the same colour as a shirt, a logo, or a button already in the photo. Picker is the eyedropper: it reads one pixel and keeps that colour for the next stroke. In Photasium that happens in the tab: the file never goes to a server.

## The colour under the pointer

Picker reads one pixel of the picture you see and puts that colour in the foreground. Option-click puts it in the background. The photo pixels stay as they were, and the swatches hold the colour for the next tool.

[Fill](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-fill-an-area-with-colour.md) floods a connected area with the foreground. [Brush](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-paint-and-erase-on-a-photo.md) paints a stroke in that colour. Both start from black until you sample a pixel or open a colour swatch. Picker is how you take the colour from the photo first.

## Type the same colour as the shirt

A story often wants the caption to match a jacket, a sky, or a logo already in the frame. Sample that pixel, then [Text](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-add-text-to-a-photo.md), and the new layer uses it. Option-click a second pixel if a [Gradient](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-draw-a-gradient-on-a-photo.md) should run from one of those colours to the other.

The Colour panel lists HEX, RGB, and HSL for the foreground. Copy on a row puts that line where you can paste it, when another post needs the same value.

A listing can need a flat band the same colour as the box, or a mark painted in a colour taken from the table beside it. Sample the box, then [Fill](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-fill-an-area-with-colour.md) paints a connected area. Sample the table and [Brush](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-paint-and-erase-on-a-photo.md) uses that colour on the next stroke. Extract palette builds six swatches from the product photo when you want a set of colours from the layer.

A screenshot of a button or a chart often needs a label in the same colour as the interface. Sample the button, then type. Copy on the HEX row puts the # and six digits where you can paste them, if a spec or another file asks for that value.

A scan of a logo or a sheet of paper can supply the colour for a border or a heading. Sample the ink, then a shape’s fill or a flat fill uses it. Where the scan is partly transparent over a solid page, the sample is the colour after the page shows through.

## Picking a colour in Photasium

1. **Open a photo.** Open the [editor](https://photasium.com/editor), then File → Open, or drop an image on the canvas.

2. **Choose Picker.** Click Picker in the toolbar, or press I. The hint says a click sets the foreground colour. The options bar says the same, and adds that Option-click sets the background. A small swatch follows the pointer and shows the colour under it. On a fully clear pixel the swatch stays empty. Foreground starts as #000000 and background starts as #ffffff.

3. **Click the pixel.** Click the colour you want. The foreground swatch, the brush colour, and the colour for new type all become that colour. Option-click writes the background swatch and leaves the foreground as it was. A click outside the document, or on a fully clear pixel, leaves both as they were. Hold Space and drag to pan. The swatch hides while Space is down, and a click does not sample while a text field is open.

4. **Read it or take a set.** The Colour panel shows the foreground as HEX, RGB, and HSL. Copy on a row puts that line where you can paste it, and a note says Copied. With Picker selected, the line under the values says Click the photo to sample. With another tool selected, it says Picker (I) samples a pixel. Extract reads the active layer. Extract palette builds six swatches. On a raster layer it reads that layer’s own pixels, including pixels a mask is hiding. On a text layer, a group, or an adjustment layer it reads the visible layers stacked together. Nearly clear pixels are left out. A layer with no opaque pixels still shows six swatches of the same mid grey, #808080. Click a swatch to set the foreground. If the layer cannot be read, a note says Could not sample this image.

5. **Use the colour.** [Brush](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-paint-and-erase-on-a-photo.md) (B) paints with the foreground. [Fill](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-fill-an-area-with-colour.md) (G) floods with it, and Option-click fills with the background. [Text](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-add-text-to-a-photo.md) (X) uses the foreground for a new type layer. An existing text layer keeps the colour it already has. [Gradient](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-draw-a-gradient-on-a-photo.md) (D) blends the foreground into the background. A shape’s fill uses the foreground. The stroke colour on type and on a shape is its own field in the options bar, so a sample leaves that field as it was.

The sample is the stacked picture: visible layers, type, a layer mask, and an adjustment layer. Where one colour sits on top of another, opacity and blend change the pixel you read. Over a clear area, a partly transparent pixel still reports its own colour. A fully clear pixel leaves the swatches as they were. A hidden layer stays out of the stack. [Layers](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-use-layers.md) is where the eye hides a row. Extract palette on a raster reads that layer’s canvas, so a mask leaves the six swatches on the layer’s own pixels, including the ones the mask hides.

Under the tools, the front swatch is the foreground colour and the one behind it is the background colour. Click either swatch to open the colour dialog. Hue, saturation, and brightness sit on one side, red, green, and blue on the other, and HEX is below. New and Current show the draft beside the colour the well already holds. Apply writes the swatch. Cancel closes the dialog and leaves the previous colour. The swap control exchanges the two swatches. The small black-and-white control resets them to black and white. With the Text tool active, Apply on the foreground also writes that colour onto the selected text layer, and Undo restores the previous type colour.

A photo you open uses a transparent background, so a clear pixel leaves the swatches as they were and you see the checkerboard there. File → New can start with a solid background, and a clear pixel then samples that colour. Sampling stores the colour in the swatches, and the photo pixels stay as they were. Click another pixel when you want a different colour.

## The colour, ready to use

The swatches hold the colour you clicked, nothing was uploaded, and the photo pixels are unchanged. Click again for a different pixel, or open a swatch and type a hex if you already have the value.

Download PNG, JPEG, or WebP if you need a file to send. Come back later and the document is still listed under the editor, until this browser’s storage is cleared. Picker sits with the other [photo editing tools](https://photasium.com/#fill): [Brush](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-paint-and-erase-on-a-photo.md), [Fill](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-fill-an-area-with-colour.md), [Text](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-add-text-to-a-photo.md), and [export a listing](https://photasium.com/guides/how-to-export-png-jpeg-or-webp.md).

[Open photo editor](https://photasium.com/editor)