How To Apply Custom Color Palette In Photoshop

Create Custom Photoshop Color Swatches and Sets

Version note: Using Photoshop CC? Please see our fully updated Create Color Swatches in Photoshop CC 2020 tutorial.

In this Photoshop tutorial, we're going to learn how to collect and organize colors into custom colour swatch sets which we can then call up and employ whenever we need them, perfect for times when we're working with multiple clients and each of them has their ain specific colors they desire used on their project, or when nosotros simply desire to collect and organize dissimilar colors for our own work.

One of the things I relish doing is taking photos of outdoor nature scenes, then sampling some of the colors from the images and saving them as different color sets. After all, it's difficult to summit Mother Nature when it comes to finding colors that piece of work well together. In this tutorial, we're going to be doing exactly what I just described, sampling various colors from a photo, storing them as color swatches in Photoshop's Swatches palette, and and then saving them as a custom swatch set. We'll also run across how to reset the swatches back to Photoshop'due south default colors when we're washed and and so how to load our newly created swatch set whenever nosotros demand it!

Here's the photograph I'll be using to sample colors from. I want to create an "Fall Leaves" color swatch set, and so this photograph should work nicely:

A photo of leaves changing color in the Autumn.

At the end of the tutorial, we'll see an example of how you can then use the colors from your custom swatch ready to create something entirely different. Let's get started.

Step 1: Delete The Existing Color Swatches From Photoshop' Swatches Palette

To create our custom swatch set, let'south first delete all of the color swatches that are currently in the Swatches palette. Don't worry, they won't exist gone for expert, equally nosotros'll come across a flake subsequently on. Switch over to your Swatches palette, which by default is grouped in with the Color and Styles palettes. Unless yous've previously loaded other swatch sets, you'll find Photoshop's default color swatches filling up the palette:

Photoshop's Swatches palette showing the default set of colour swatches.

Unfortunately, Adobe forgot to include a "Articulate All Swatches" selection, and so in gild to delete all the color swatches currently in the Swatches palette, we'll need to delete each one manually. To practice that, hold downwardly your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key and hover your mouse over the color swatch in the top left corner (the "RGB Red" swatch). You'll see your mouse cursor alter into a pair of scissors icon:

Hold down "Alt" (Win) / "Option" (Mac) and hover your mouse over the red color swatch in the pinnacle left corner. Your mouse cursor changes to a scissors icon.

Then, while still holding down "Alt/Pick", click on the color swatch to delete it, then continue clicking to delete all of the remaining swatches. You lot'll need to click a total of 122 times to clear all of them, simply depending on how fast you are at mouse clicking, information technology shouldn't take also long. Your Swatches palette will be completely empty when you're done:

The swatches palette is now empty after deleting all the default colour swatches.

Stride ii: Select The Eyedropper Tool

Open the image in Photoshop that yous want to sample your colors from if it isn't open already, and then grab your Eyedropper Tool from the Tools palette, or press I on your keyboard to select information technology with the shortcut:

Select the Eyedropper Tool.

Step 3: Sample Your First Color From The Image

With the Eyedropper Tool selected, move your mouse cursor over an area of colour y'all desire to sample, then click to sample information technology. I'thousand going to sample a vivid xanthous from 1 of the leaves in the top of my image as my starting time color:

Sampling a bright yellow from one of the leaves.

You can encounter exactly which colour you've sampled by looking at the Foreground color swatch in the Tools palette:

The sampled color appears in the Foreground color swatch in Photoshop's Tools palette.

Note: You may find information technology easier to sample your colors by belongings down your mouse push as yous drag your mouse cursor effectually inside the prototype (with the Eyedropper Tool selected). The color the Eyedropper is currently over appears in the Foreground colour swatch in the Tools palette and continuously updates every bit yous drag your mouse, giving you lot a live preview of the color earlier you sample it, which I find much easier than the "click and see what you go" method. Release your mouse push when you're over the color you lot want to sample.

Step 4: Add The Color To The Swatches Palette

In one case you've sampled your starting time color, motility your mouse cursor into the empty area inside the Swatches palette. You'll see your mouse cursor change into a paint saucepan icon. Click anywhere inside the empty surface area to convert your sampled color into a color swatch. Photoshop will popular up a dialog box asking you to enter a proper name for your color swatch. If you're creating a swatch set for a client using specific Pantone colors they've requested, information technology's a good thought to enter the Pantone color proper name as the name of your swatch ("Pantone Xanthous 012 C", for example), or if you're creating the swatch prepare for your ain use, use whatsoever name makes well-nigh sense to yous. I'chiliad merely going to proper name my color "Yellow":

Give your new color swatch a descriptive proper name, although you tin choose not to name your colors every bit well.

You don't necessarily have to name your colour swatches, so if the names don't really affair to yous, feel gratuitous to leave them with the default names that Photoshop gives them. Click OK when you're washed to leave out of the dialog box, and if I wait now in my Swatches palette, I can meet that my starting time color has been added:

The Swatches palette showing my "Yellowish" color added.

Footstep 5: Go along Sampling Colors And Creating Color Swatches From Them

Keep sampling colors from your image and then clicking within whatsoever empty area in the Swatches palette to save them as color swatches, naming them if needed. I've sampled x more colors from my image, giving me a full of eleven colour swatches in my Swatches palette. You can have as many color swatches equally you like:

More sampled colors have been added to the Swatches palette as color swatches.

Step 6: Save The Color Swatches As A Swatch Set

When you're done adding colors to the Swatches palette and you're set up to save them as a new swatch fix, click on the small right-pointing pointer in the height right corner of the Swatches palette to admission the palette carte du jour:

Access the Swatches palette carte by clicking on the small right-pointing pointer.

And so select Save Swatches from the menu that appears:

Select the "Save Swatches..." option.

Photoshop will popular up the Save dialog box. Enter a name for your new swatch gear up. I'thousand going to proper noun mine "Autumn Leaves":

Enter a name for your new swatch set.

Click the Relieve button when y'all're done to save the new gear up. Photoshop saves the swatch set in the same default directory as all the other swatch sets that were installed with Photoshop, so you won't have to go looking all over your computer the next fourth dimension you want to access any of the custom sets yous've created, as nosotros'll see in a moment.

Step 7: Reset Your Swatches Dorsum To The Defaults

We've sampled some colors from an image, created color swatches from the sampled colors, and saved them all as a new custom swatch set. But what if we want to go back to using all those default swatches nosotros deleted? All we need to do is click once once again on the small right-pointing pointer at the top of the Swatches palette to bring the palette card support, and this fourth dimension, we choose Reset Swatches from the listing:

Select "Reset Swatches" from the palette menu to revert back to Photoshop's default color swatch set.

Photoshop volition enquire you if you want to replace your current swatches with the defaults. You accept a pick hither of clicking "OK", which tells Photoshop to remove your current swatches and replace them with the defaults, or you can also click "Append", in which case yous'll go along your existing swatches and Photoshop volition just add the default swatches to them. I'chiliad going to click OK to replace my "Fall Leaves" swatches with the defaults:

Clicking OK to reset my color swatches to Photoshop'due south defaults.

And now my Swatches palette is filled again with the default colors:

The default color swatches accept returned.

We'll see how to access our custom colour swatches set, as well equally how to utilize it, next.

Step eight: Load The Custom Color Swatch Set

The next time you lot desire to apply your custom color swatch set, all you demand to do is click once more on the right-pointing arrow at the height of the Swatches palette to access the palette menu. If you look down at the lesser of the carte du jour, you'll see a listing of additional color swatch sets that are available. Most of these are additional sets that installed with Photoshop, but since Photoshop saves our custom swatch sets in the same directory as the other sets it comes with, you'll find your custom sets listed here as well. All yous need to do is click on the name of your custom ready to select it. Photoshop lists the names of the sets in alphabetical order, so my "Autumn Leaves" gear up is listed second from the top:

You lot'll find all your custom swatch sets listed forth with the other sets that install with Photoshop in the Swatches palette menu. Click on the name of the set up to select it.

Once more, Photoshop will ask you if y'all desire to supplant your existing swatches with the new ones or if you simply desire to append them to the list. I'm going to click OK to replace the default swatches with my Autumn Leaves swatches:

Click "Supercede" to replace the current swatches in the Swatches palette with your new swatches.

And just like that, my custom "Autumn Leaves" swatches are loaded into my Swatches palette for me, ready to use:

The custom swatch set is loaded back into the Swatches palette.

Choosing A New Foreground Color From The Swatches Palette

The smashing affair about using colour swatches is that they're essentially preset colors, meaning colors that we've already chosen (or colors that Adobe has already called if nosotros're working with swatch sets that installed with Photoshop), which means nosotros don't have to keep choosing them with Photoshop'south Colour Picker every fourth dimension we need them. To select whatever of the colors in the Swatches palette, but hover your mouse over the colour swatch. Yous'll come across your mouse cursor change into the Eyedropper icon. And then click on the colour to select it. Here, I'one thousand choosing the orange color, second from the left:

Click on whatever colors in the Swatches palette to instantly select them.

Afterward clicking on it, I tin can run into past looking at the Foreground color swatch in the Tools palette that the colour I just clicked on has indeed been selected:

The colour you lot clicked on in the Swatches palette appears in the Foreground color swatch in the Tools palette.

Choosing A New Background Color From The Swatches Palette

To select a colour to use every bit your Background color, but hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Control (Mac) key and click on the color you want in the Swatches palette. Hither, I'chiliad clicking on a dark cerise color while holding downwardly "Ctrl/Command":

Hold downwardly "Ctrl" (Win) / "Command" (Mac) and click on any color in the Swatches palette to select a color to use as your Groundwork colour.

At present if I look again in my Tools palette, I can meet that the Background color swatch is filled with the dark red color I just clicked on:

The Background color swatch in the Tools palette now appears filled with the color y'all selected in the Swatches palette.

I can at present use the colors from my "Autumn Leaves" swatch set whenever I desire, however I desire! Hither I've created a simple blueprint for a poem using the colors from my swatch gear up, along with the "Scattered Maple Leaves" castor that ships with Photoshop:

A design for a poem using the colors from my custom "Autumn Leaves" swatch gear up.

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