How to Use the Eyedropper Tool in Adobe Photoshop Elements

Adobe Photoshop Elements is a versatile photo-editing software program that offers a variety of tools to improve the appearance of digital and scanned photos. The Eyedropper tool copies the color of an area in your photo to set a new color for the foreground or background. You can choose a color sample from either the photo you are editing, from another image or from your computer's desktop.

Instructions

1. Select the photo that you want to retouch in the "Photo Browser." Click on the camera icon and choose the photo's location from the drop-down menu. Click the "Edit" button, and choose "Go To Quick Fix" or "Go To Standard Edit." Then choose either "Quick Fix" or "Standard Edit" (also called "The Editor").

2. Choose the Eyedropper tool in the toolbox. To change size of the area that the eyedropper samples, choose a size from the "Sample Size" menu in the options bar.

3. Select a new color for the foreground of your photo by clicking on the chosen color in your photo. You can also select the color from an alternate source on your computer screen by clicking inside the image and dragging away from it.

4. Find a new color for the background from an image by using "Alt-click" in Windows or "Option-click" in Mac OS to pick the color of your choice. Click and drag the eyedropper, and the color box changes. Then release the mouse button to choose your new color.

5. Save your edited photo by clicking on the disk icon or go to "File" and then "Save As." You can save the photo as a Photoshop file (.psd) or in another format such as .jpeg.

6. Use a shortcut to open a photo for retouching while preserving the original. Go to the photo on your hard drive, right click on the photo and click "Copy." In the white space next to the photo, click on "Paste." Right click on the photo's copy. Click on "Open With" and select Adobe Photoshop Elements.