Photoshop Sample

[Pascua Gomer]

I load in a photo. I add an empty layer underneath the photo. I drop the photo layer to 25% opacity. I begin sketching on the empty layer beneath. I want to sample colors from the photo layer above, but it's at 25% opacity. So when I use the eyedropper to sample the color, it looks washed out.

I was hoping to find a way to sample the *true* color from that layer, regardless of its opacity level, without having to manually change its opacity to 100%, sample the color, then change the opacity back to 25%.

thanks. I'm using the top layer (layer with the original photograph) as the original sample reference. I want to drop the opacity to 25%, so it can be used as a "tracing paper". Then with the new layer underneath, I'll sketch/paint(trace) the image. I want to sample the true colors from the photo on the layer above, but not at the 25% opacity it is displaying. I need to sample the color from that layer at its *true* 100% opacity color.

I know the mixer brush can do this. So load the photo on the top layer, then drop it to 25% opacity. Next, create a blank layer under it. Next, choose the mixer brush tool and choose a brush to your liking, and make sure "sample all layers" is turned on. Make sure to turn OFF the "load" icon in the mixer brush well, and to turn ON the "Clean" icon in the mixer brush well.

dang. Oh well. I'm pretty sure it can be done with scripting... I'll try it. So in other words, every time you hold down ALT, it will temporarily change the above layer's opacity to 100% while it samples a color- and then when you let go of ALT, it will return the top layer's opacity to 25% and you can begin painting again on the layer below, having successfully sampled a color from the layer above at full opacity.

A quick workaround if you have the screen space is to duplicate the image (Image -Duplicate) then go to Window-Arrange and Tile 2 up vertical. You now have both the working image and a duplicate along-side each other . You can set your top layer to 100% in the duplicate. Then with the brush selected in the working image you can Alt click on the duplicate to sample and paint with that colour on the working version.

There might be some some workarounds with scripting; however, it's not possible to get the cursor position with extendscript. So writing a script to get the position and sample the color would not work. Best I can think of is to create a script to set the opacity of the layer above the active layer to 100%, and another one to set it back. You could then assign the two scripts to a hot key to press quickly. You would need to record the layer's opacity value and store it somewhere - perhaps it the file's metadata or to the clipboard.

The only ways I've been able to make it dissapear again so far have been to either keep clicking with the eyedropper a few times or start using another tool. Obviously this can be awkward if it's right where I need to paint etc!

Thanks Jane, good idea but sadly no ... I did notice that despite most tools selected in the sidebar made no difference, every time so far without fail clicking the move tool in the side bar does make it go. More disrupting to work flow than clicking the eyedropper a few more times or making a brushstroke and undoing that etc but interesting!

Ok just thought - yes moving my cursor all the way over to select move tool is awkward but tried and the keyboard shortcut of pressing 'V' also works! As I'm mostly using the Brush tool it does mean I can simply tap V then B ... still annoying but reduces clicks somewhat.

The zooming in and out was to test to see if a refresh would work (or not). In the old days, we call it "ink blots" with stuff was left on the screen that wasn't really there. It could possibly be an issue with your monitor or video driver.

Yes deffinitely seems to be something with Photoshop refreshing on this new Mac (M2 Mini running latest Ventura - no updates waiting). I have an Eizo monitor so good quality ... Photoshop CC2023 is the only App where I get this issue.

Thanks Kevin, tried setting PS to open using Rosetta and again the issue persists ... I did however find possibly the shortest workaround possible... if I simply hold the mouse click or press of the pen when using the eyedropper for a little longer it has yet to leave the sample ring on screen after I release the mouse or pen... if I click or tap with the pen quickly it happens more often the faster I am with it...?

Jane - just to note I do realise no matter the 'quality' of my screen that doesn't rule out incompatibilities ... just makes it more expensive to replace with similar! I'll pay close attention to see if any other situations arise in different software but as yet I haven't been aware of anything like this happening other than in PS with the eyedropper sample ring. Which I'm using a lot in a large project for a client right now.

Aha good idea Kevin!... but no difference. That felt like it could have been it as my tablet is quite old at this point and you remended me it's not officially supported on this latest Mac OS ... it does seem to work without issue but still it's awkward little quirks like this I'd expect but alas no difference.

Hi Ash, Goodness I am now incredibly annoyed with myself as I no longer have the issue... yet can't for the life of me remember when or how I fixed it! Which version of Photoshop are you running? I am currently not on the latest version as I upgraded and it had a bug where the colour palette itself doesn't update after using the eyedropper (despite the new colour applying to the brush and the colour wheel no longer sticking in place)... so downgraded back to Photoshop 2024 version 25.0.0 ... for me this version is stable without any obvious bugs and not had an issue with the colour wheel sticking at all (using Photoshop for many hours every day)

I opened a PNG containing an alpha channel in Photoshop and wanted to get the opacity / alpha of a given point in the PNG file, so that I could match that opacity in a new photoshop layer. How can I do this? is there any way to get an alpha value at a point the way the color sample tool gives RGB values at a given point?

If there is a portion of your image that contains 100% of a color, and your alpha section contains < 100% of that same color, you can do it. For example, if you have a gradient from 100% color to 0% color, with alpha transparency, here's what you do:

Note that you need the colored background. If you turn off the bg, you'll notice that the color samplers will read the same for your gradient. Give it a try. This is the reason for step #7. I don't know that this will work if the colors are not the same, or at least very close to get you in the ballpark.

I'm trying to match colors and am using the eye dropper to put a sample point. I'm using a combination of curves, color and saturation. I have target values BUT, when I click from one adjustment tool to another, the values in the right column that should show me what my new color is changes. It looks like it's showing me what the current adjustment does only when combined with those below.

Say I've got a subject RGB sample of 150/140/130. Say there are two adjustments above it, one is a curve the other is Hue Saturation. I'll put a sample point on the photo layer, then adjust the curve and get say 160/150/140. Then adjust the Hue Saturation and adjust the values closer to where I need to be. When I click back in the Curves layer, I'll see 160/150/140 when I know full well I've just adjusted the saturation and those values don't reflect what the next layer up is doing. It makes it quite hard to find a target value.

BINGO! Looks like that will do the trick. My big challenge on things like this is that my search skills are worse than my Photoshop skills. I know there's a way to do what I need, but I'm apparently wording my search wrong and seldom find the answer.

My attempt so far (again be nice haha, I'm more into the code-side of things than design):You can see that I've taken a small sample (from the text around house of lords scotch) and duplicated it 1000 times. What's the best way to blend the image together? Or if there is a better way in general, I'd appreciate hearing it!

The color sampler tool works in the same way as the eyedropper tool, except it creates persistent pixel value readouts that are displayed in the Info panel and is capable of displaying up to four color sample point readouts in an image (see Figure 1). These sample point readouts will remain visible all the time in the Info panel, but the color sample points themselves are only visible whenever the color sampler tool is selected.

The Sample options allow you to sample using the vartious options shown below in Figure 2. In particular, you can now sample all layers without including the effect of adjustment layers anywhere in the layer stack. Or, you can sample from the current layer and below without including adjustment layer adjustments.

When the normal eyedropper tool is selected You can access the color sampler tool by Shift-clicking with the eyedropper tool. If you are working with the brush, pencil, type, gradient, bucket tools or any shape tool that is in fill pixels mode, you can hold down the Option+Shift/Alt+Shift keys to temporarily access the eyedropper tool. If you click then click with the Option+Shift/Alt+Shift keys held down, this will add a new color sample point. The color sample options used here will be the same as those currently selected for the color sampler tool. You can also add color sampler points in this way while the Curves dialog is open.

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