How to Extract a Colour Palette From an Image

A photo you like is a ready-made colour scheme. The trick is pulling out a small set of colours that represent it without being ten shades of the same blue.

Dominant colour vs palette

These are different jobs. The Dominant Color Extractor ranks colours by how much of the image they cover — good for picking one accent that matches a hero image. The Palette from Image tool aims for a spread of distinct colours — good for a full theme.

Getting a workable set

1. Start with 5–6 swatches. More than that is hard to use consistently.
2. Export as CSS variables or a hex list and paste it into your project.
3. Adjust by hand: nudge one colour to a true neutral for backgrounds, and check text contrast.

Sampling exact colours

For a specific spot — the blue in a logo, a skin tone, a sky — use the Image Color Picker and click directly on the pixel. It reads HEX, RGB and HSL, and lets you collect several by clicking around.

Sharing it

Turn the final set into a labelled image with Color Swatch Image so it drops into a chat or a design doc.