CreativePro Tip of the Week: Using the HUD (Heads-Up-Display) Color Picker in Photoshop

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This CreativePro Tip of the Week on using the HUD (Heads Up Display) Color Picker the Photoshop interface was sent to CreativeProse email subscribers on June 21, 2017.

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Did you know that Photoshop has a color picker that you can access right at your cursor—if you can handle a little finger gynmastics?

When using a painting tool, to display the HUD (Heads-Up-Display) color picker on the Mac, hold Control+Option+Command then click and hold the mouse button.

On Windows, the shortcut is Shift+Alt+right-click.

The HUD color picker is made up of two parts, a square for choosing saturation and brightness, and either a strip or wheel for choosing a hue.

photoshop hud color picker strip

photoshop hud color picker wheel

To jump from one part of the picker to the other keep holding down the mouse button, release the other keys, and press the spacebar. Move your cursor over the other part of the picker, then release the spacebar.

photoshop hud color picker switch

Yes, it’s somewhat ridiculous, but you might get the hang of it after a few tries. (Or you’ll curse me and this tip for ever making you aware of the HUD color picker. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.)

You can set the size and style of the HUD color picker in General preferences.

photoshop hud color picker preferences

The HUD can be displayed as either a strip or a wheel (select the shape and size from Preferences > General HUD Color Picker).

Editor in Chief of CreativePro. Instructor at LinkedIn Learning with courses on InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, GIMP, Inkscape, and Affinity Publisher. Co-author of The Photoshop Visual Quickstart Guide with Nigel French.
  • John says:

    It’s quite hard to pick the right color in the HUD color picker but it’s quite fun since the color change is smoother. Thanks for sharing your tips.

  • sterklen says:

    thank you

    To jump from one part of the picker to the other keep holding down the mouse button, release the other keys

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