The global color picker samples colors from the current image, displays their values in several color spaces, and lets you store and compare samples from different locations. It is part of the scopes module (the Color picker and Live samples sections), in the darkroom left panel.
Activate it with the color-picker button. It keeps sampling until you turn it off or leave the darkroom.
Note
This global color picker is distinct from the local color pickers found inside many modules (e.g. RGB curve), which set that module’s parameters. The two do not work in the same color space: the global picker samples at the end of the preview pipeline (display space), whereas a local picker reads the input or output of the module it belongs to.Controls
- Point / area mode
- Click the picker button for point mode (a small spot under the cursor). Ctrl+click or right-click for area mode (the average over a drawn rectangle).
- Statistic (mean / min / max)
- In area mode, choose whether to display the mean, minimum or maximum channel values of the sampled region. (In point mode the three are identical.)
- Color mode
- Choose the color space in which the sampled values are shown. Values converted to spaces other than the native display space are approximate.
- Color swatch
- A patch of the sampled color is shown next to the numerical values; click it to enlarge it. Right-click the numerical values to copy them to the clipboard.
Hover any value for a tooltip with more detail, including RGB and Lab values and an approximate color name.
Live samples
Press add to store the current sample as a live sample. Each live sample keeps its own swatch and values (with its own statistic and color mode).
- Live samples are not locked by default: they update as you change the edit, which lets you watch how a parameter affects different parts of the image. Click a live sample’s swatch to lock it (a lock icon appears) so later changes no longer affect it — handy for before/after comparisons.
- Hover a live sample’s delete button to highlight its region in the preview.
- Display samples on image
- Show the live-sample locations on the image and on the vectorscope.
- Restrict scope to selection
- Restrict the scopes to only the values inside the picked point/area, to inspect the tones present in that region. When a local color picker is active in a module, this restricts the scope to that module’s picked area instead.