Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
You can keep clicking around and watch the color in the window's “new” box change
to reflect what you click. The “current” box shows your original color for comparison.
4.
Click OK
.
The color you selected now appears in the foreground or background square in the
Tools panel (depending on which one you clicked in step 1).
That's the basic way to use the Color Picker. The box below explains how to enter a numeric
value for a color (if you know it) and how to change which shades the Color Picker offers
you.
NOTE
You're not limited to Elements' Color Picker. If you prefer, you can use your operating
system's Color Picker instead (maybe you're used to working with the Windows Picker,
for example). Here's how:
▪
Windows
: In the Elements Editor, go to Edit→Preferences→General. At the top of
the dialog box, set the Color Picker menu to Windows. From then on, when you click
a color square in Elements, the Windows Color Picker opens up looking pretty feeble,
with just a few colored squares and some white ones. But if you click Define Custom
Colors, it expands, giving you access to most of the same features as in the Adobe
picker. (The plain white squares are like little pigeonholes where you can save your
color choices.)
▪
Mac
: Go to Photoshop Elements Editor→Preferences→General and, from the Color
Picker menu at the top of the dialog box, select Apple. You may prefer Apple's color
picker if you like to choose colors from a color wheel. There's even a fun view where
you choose from a box of crayons. You can save colors in Apple's color picker by
dragging them from the Color field at the top of the window onto the squares at the
bottom. Then click a square to choose that color the next time you want it.
