The eyedropper and measure tools

The Eyedropper, measure tools

Since these pages are intended for beginners, I’m going to stick with the color picking features of the eyedropper and only briefly describe the data collecting uses.

To change the foreground color, click with the eyedropper on the desired color anywhere in the current image, or in any other open image, active or not. To change the background color, Alt-click, with the eyedropper, on the desired color in any open window.

Foreground and background colors can also be picked by using the Color palette. Many more selections, and options are available there.

The color sampler is used for picking up RGB, or CMYK values. These can be used for comparisons when making image adjustments. The data acquired is displayed in the Info palette. Up to four samples can be viewed at once.

The eyedropper tool can be temporarily accessed when using any painting tool by pressing the Alt key.

The keyboard shortcut key for the eyedropper is the letter I. Holding down the Shift while pressing the shortcut key toggles you between the eyedropper, the color sampler, and the measure tool. In addition, once the eyedropper is selected, pressing the Shift key will switch you to the color sampler.

The measure tool gives precise measurements between any two points in an image. To use it, select it in the toolbox, click at the first point, and drag to the second point. A non-printing line will be drawn in the image, and the measurements, and coordinates of that line will be shown in the Info palette.

You can also create a protractor from an existing line by Alt dragging from one end of that line. The angle measured will be shown in the Info palette.

To edit an existing measurement line, click the measure tool in the toolbox and drag one end of a line to resize. Move the line be dragging on any part other than an end. To remove a line from the image, drag it off the image.

Units of measurement are set in the Preferences. Find them at Edit > Preferences > Units & Rulers.

The keyboard shortcut for this tool is the letter I. To cycle through the eyedropper tools, and the measure tool, hold down the Shift key while pressing the shortcut letter.

• Marquee tool
• Move tool
• Lasso tool
• Magic wand tool
• Crop tool
• Slice tool
• Airbrush tool
• Paintbrush and Pencil tools
• Stamp tool
• History Brush
• Eraser tool
• Gradient and bucket
• Blur, sharpen, smudge
• Dodge, burn, sponge
• Path tool
• Text tool
• Pen and anchor
• Shape and line
• Notes tool
• Eyedropper, measure
• Hand tool
• Zoom tool
• Color Picker
• Mode tools

Photoshop Tutorials

	Creating spooky text - 6+7
	Creating 3d Text - 6.0
	Creating Engraved text - 6.0
	Working with colormasks - 6.0
	Using the quick mask tool - 6.0
	Creating perfect rounded edges - 6.0
	Slicing a graphical interface - 6.0
	Creating torn and burnt images - 6.0
	Creating realistic wires - 6.0