How to count the total number of colors used in an image?

[Juicy_Art]

Does anybody know what steps I should take to make an accurate count of the total number of colors that a psd image has?

Any help would be really appreciated.

[Guest]

Why? If its a Photo its probably in the thousands or millions.

[Juicy_Art]

I need to separate the colors to give to my printer (for tshirt screenprinting...) It's not going to be a "photo"

I usually design with photoshop as well but i need to make sure that I use a total of 8 colors only. I'm not sure if there is a way to count it in photoshop... any help would be appreciated.

[Zeno Bokor]

Try using Image->Mode->Indexed Color, you can use it to specify the number of colors in your image. If you have less than 256 colors then it will automatically set Palette to Exact and show you how many colors you have in your image

[c.pfaffenbichler]

But Zeno’s method would also include colors resulting from antialiased edges, soft edges or gradients, which for output-concerns I suspect You want to be considered as halftones of a limited number of colors.

Would You mind posting a screenshot of some sample image with the Layers Panel visible?

[IanPorter99]

Speaking as the artworker for a screenprinter, I'd strongly recommend that you leave it to the printer to reduce the colours in your image.

In my experience everone does it a slightly different way, and you're unlikely to do it the way they want. Some do it "by hand" using the Indexed Color mode of Photoshop, others will use plug-in separation software. Either way, you'll probably just be wasting your time - any printer worth his salt will want to do it themselves to suit their production facilities.

I did post a set of instructions a while ago on using Index Color mode to produce reduced-colour images in this thread:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2016025#2016025

...which will set you on the right track if you're determind to have a go yourself.