Expert: Glen Demers - 4/20/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi.  I use Elements 6.  Under the toolbar there is a foreground color and background color.  I then open the swatches and select and click ok for lets say red but the foreground on the left doesn't change to the new color I selected.

ANSWER: Hi Walter,

The background and foreground colors are shown on the left side of your workspace at the bottom of the tool bar, the foreground the upper left square and the background lower right.
You can alternate which one is active (on top) by clicking on the small double arrow in the upper right corner.

To change the foreground or background color, make sure that the correct square is active and double click on it to bring up your color chooser. Select the new color and click okay. This will change your background/foreground color. You can set the foreground/background swatches to the default colors (black & white) by clicking on the small proxy in the lower left corner.

The swatches palette is a place for you to store colors you have defined and want to use again in the picture. Using the eyedropper tool to click on any swatch will put that color in the foreground/background color, depending on which is active. You can also use the eyedropper tool to click on any color in the image to make that a foreground/background color.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more Photoshop tips please visit our help pages here


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Did all you said but foreground color box on the left isn't changing to new color o.k'd

Answer
Hi Walter,

Make sure you are in a color space such as RGB and that your layer is the background layer or a layer in Normal blending mode. Once you change the foreground to a color make sure a brush or pencil tool applies that color when used.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more Photoshop tips please visit our help pages here