PDF (adobe.com)

Select a color with the Adobe Color Picker

You can use the Adobe Color Picker to set target colors in some color and tonal adjustment effects. Clicking a color swatch in an effect’s controls opens the Adobe Color Picker.

When you select a color in the Adobe Color Picker, it simultaneously displays the numeric values for HSB, RGB, HSL, YUV, and hexadecimal numbers. This is useful for viewing how the different color modes describe a color.

In the Adobe Color Picker, you can select colors based on the HSB (hue, saturation, brightness), RGB (red, green, blue), HSL (hue, saturation, luminance), or YUV (luminance and color difference channels) color models, or you can specify a color based on its hexadecimal values. Selecting the Only Web Colors option configures the Adobe Color Picker so that you can choose only from web‑safe colors. The color field in the Adobe Color Picker can display color components in HSB, RGB, HSL, or YUV color mode.

Adobe Color Picker

A.
Selected color

B.
Color field

C.
Color slider

D.
Adjusted color

E.
Original color

F.
Color values

  1. In the Effect Controls panel, click the Color swatch property for an effect to display the Color Picker.
  2. Select the component you want to use to display the color spectrum:
    H
    Displays all hues in the color slider. Selecting a hue in the color slider displays the saturation and brightness range of the selected hue in the color spectrum, with the saturation increasing from left to right and brightness increasing from bottom to top.

    S
    Displays all hues in the color spectrum with their maximum brightness at the top of the color spectrum, decreasing to their minimum at the bottom. The color slider displays the color that’s selected in the color spectrum with its maximum saturation at the top of the slider and its minimum saturation at the bottom.

    B (in the HSB section)
    Displays all hues in the color spectrum with their maximum saturation at the top of the color spectrum, decreasing to their minimum saturation at the bottom. The color slider displays the color that’s selected in the color spectrum with its maximum brightness at the top of the slider and its minimum brightness at the bottom.

    R
    Displays the red color component in the color slider with its maximum brightness at the top of the slider and its minimum brightness at the bottom. When the color slider is set to minimum brightness, the color spectrum displays colors created by the green and blue color components. Using the color slider to increase the red brightness mixes more red into the colors displayed in the color spectrum.

    G
    Displays the green color component in the color slider with its maximum brightness at the top of the slider and its minimum brightness at the bottom. When the color slider is set to minimum brightness, the color spectrum displays colors created by the red and blue color components. Using the color slider to increase the green brightness mixes more green into the colors displayed in the color spectrum.

    B (in the RGB section)
    Displays the blue color component in the color slider with its maximum brightness at the top of the slider and its minimum brightness at the bottom. When the color slider is set to minimum brightness, the color spectrum displays colors created by the green and red color components. Using the color slider to increase the blue brightness mixes more blue into the colors displayed in the color spectrum.

  3. Do any of the following:

    • Drag the triangles along the color slider, or click inside the color slider to adjust the colors displayed in the color spectrum.

    • Click or drag inside the large square color spectrum to select a color. A circular marker indicates the color's position in the color spectrum.

      Note: As you adjust the color using the color slider and color spectrum, the numeric values change to indicate the new color. The top rectangle to the right of the color slider displays the new color; the bottom rectangle displays the original color.

    • For HSB, specify hue (H) as an angle, from 0° to 360°, that corresponds to a location on the color wheel. Specify saturation (S) and brightness (B) as percentages (0 to 100).

    • For RGB, specify component values.

    • For #, enter a color value in hexadecimal form.