Do you ever feel like the Eyedropper tool doesn’t work correctly when you’re in the Color Picker and trying to sample a color in your image? Maybe the color isn’t what you expect, or you can’t seem to sample small areas of color? You need to change the sample settings, but where are they?
With either the Color Picker or the Eyedropper tool in the Toolbar (tap the I key) active, you’ll see a Sample Size setting up in the Options Bar. For an accurate sample of a single color, choose Point Sample. The sampler will sample the color from the exact pixel on which you click. If you’re looking for a more general color, increase the Sample Size to something like 5 by 5 Average. This will sample five pixels all the way around the pixel on which you click, and then average their colors. This is great for noisy or grainy images, because it won’t change to the color of the noisy pixel on which you click.
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