# Develop Module - Color Picker



## bobspree (Mar 24, 2014)

Hi all

I am using LR V5.3.
I am in the Develop Module "Select a color" using the Adjustment Brush.

I know that if I want a color not in the display then I click and hold and drag the pointer to anywhere in the image to select a color.
The pointer moves outside the box but the color selection is wrong. For example if I want to select something black from the image then I select that area but the color changes in the color picker to say Light Green or some other color. No matter where I go I have the same problem.

If I want to choose Black I cannot do it in the "Color Select Box" as black does not appear as an option. In fact the color range is very limited.

The system works fine in the Print Module for selecting a background color so I must be doing something wrong.

Can anybody help.

Thanks 

Bob Spree
England


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## Hal P Anderson (Mar 24, 2014)

Bob,

The colour that you can pick in the adjustment brush is just that: a hue and a saturation. You don't get to pick luminance. When you paint with a colour, the underlying pixels get their saturation and hue changed to match what you've picked, but the luminance remains whatever it was. That way, the detail in what you're painting over is kept. Otherwise, you'd be truly painting, but that isn't what the adjustment brush does.

If you want black, you'll have to go deep into negative exposure.


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## clee01l (Mar 24, 2014)

Perhaps this is because "Black" is not a color.  Colors are only RGB and blends of each.  At the bottom of the "Color Picker" dialog, there are two fields Hue (H) and Saturation (S)  Hue is a range from 0 to 255 and Saturation is a range from 0-100(%).  These two number define any color in the "Color Picker" dialog.  It never can define Black which is the absence of all colors because there is no Luminance adjustment.  The Adjustment brush does not work with Luminance, only Hue and Saturation.
The "Page Background Color " dialog on the other hand has 3 adjustment fields for Red Green and Blue and also defined as three value fields for HSL.


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## bobspree (Mar 24, 2014)

Thank you both for your response.
I understand what you are both saying, however, I am still left with the situation that when I move the pointer outside the box to select a color from the image, I do not get that color.
 As I said in my original post if I click on a black point in the image  I do not get black when I paint using the brush.
Am I right in thinking then that I need to make an adjustment for luminance first in the area to be corrected? In which case how do I do that?
All I am after is to paint an area black having selected black with the pointer.
How can I do that?

Thanks again for your help

Bob Spree


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## Hal P Anderson (Mar 24, 2014)

Bob,

When you select a colour from the image, _all _you get is the hue and saturation of the pixel you point at. You'll *never *get black. Black is 0 luminance, and you aren't getting luminance, nor will the brush affect it. Like I said, if you want to paint with black, you'll have to set your Exposure to a large negative value.


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