How to ID colors from a fill layer

[JasonDaileyPhoto]

I'm sure there (should be) is a very simple solution here! Working on a project where I fill an entire layer, as you can see by the screengrab. Instead of having a million layers, I am changing the colors as I go. 

I need to ID colors, hex #'s, that I select to fill these layers to write them down. How do I go about that?

Thanks!

[JasonDaileyPhoto]

I will add, that as I change colors from each layer, the most recent layer's color is the one that shows up in the fill color palette. So I am unable to go back to another/different layer to see what the hex # is.

[davescm]

Rather than filling a normal layer, use a solid colour fill layer. That way, you can just double click the fill layer in the layers panel which will open the colour picker so you can read the values.

In the meantime though, you can Alt click (option click on Mac) on the visibility icon (eye symbol) and it will show that layer in isolation which you can read with the eyedropper. Alt click again will turn the other layers back on.

Remember though, RGB values (or Hex codes which are just RGB values in base 16) are only relevant when stated with reference to a colour space. The same values will show different colours in different colour spaces (e.g. sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto etc)

Dave

[Stephen Marsh]

I seem to recall a script to convert raster layers to solid fill layers of the same fill colour... I'll have a look in my archives.

I couldn't find the script, I think that I was confusing another script for a shape layer to a fill layer...

Anyway, it turns out that this is pretty easy to do with a conditional action to gracefully handle masked or unmasked source layers, so all is good!

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ol50tm0q5fr76qozm4u6z/Raster-Layer-to-Solid-Fill.atn?rlkey=9e53by5dxz...

Some scripts can run an action on all layers, or only selected layers:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/do-action-for-selected-layer/td-p/126...

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Paul-Riggott/PS-Scripts/master/Run%20Action.jsx

//Jazz-y
// Run currently selected action on selected layers.jsx

#target photoshop
var s2t = stringIDToTypeID;


(r = new ActionReference()).putProperty(s2t('property'), p = s2t('targetLayersIDs'));
r.putEnumerated(s2t('document'), s2t('ordinal'), s2t('targetEnum'));
var lrs = executeActionGet(r).getList(p);

(r = new ActionReference()).putEnumerated(s2t('action'), s2t('ordinal'), s2t('targetEnum'));
try {
    try {
        var atn = executeActionGet(r).getString(s2t('name')),
            set = executeActionGet(r).getString(s2t('parentName'));
    }
    catch (e) { throw 'Before start select any action from actions palette!' }

    for (var i = 0; i < lrs.count; i++) {
        (r = new ActionReference()).putIdentifier(s2t('layer'), lrs.getReference(i).getIdentifier(s2t('layerID')));
        (d = new ActionDescriptor()).putReference(s2t('target'), r);
        //d.putBoolean(s2t("makeVisible"), false);
        try { executeAction(s2t('select'), d, DialogModes.NO); } catch (e) { throw e + '\nCannot select layer!' }
        (r = new ActionReference()).putName(s2t('action'), atn);
        r.putName(s2t('actionSet'), set);
        (d = new ActionDescriptor()).putReference(s2t('target'), r);
        try { executeAction(s2t('play'), d) } catch (e) { throw e + '\nCannot play action "' + atn + '" from set "' + set + '"' }
    }
} catch (e) { alert(e) }

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/11/downloading-and-installing-adobe-scripts.html

[JasonDaileyPhoto]

Thanks Stephen, I'll try this out.

[JasonDaileyPhoto]

Dave, thanks. As soon as I sent this post, I realized that I could create the solid color fill layer, and then use the Invert layer to effectively do what I need to.

Would LAB show more precise colors across color spaces?

[Lumigraphics]

Color numbers are absolute. But the way those numbers look onscreen or print can change, based on colorspace and device (monitor or printer) rendering. The whole purpose of color management is to make sure that everything in the chain has a valid, accurate profile so colors are accurate regardless of device, again within limitations (a printer or monitor might not be able to reproduce a specific color.)

[davescm]

Lab should be independant of colour space so, unlike RGB, should not change with a change of profile. That said, the granularity of Lab values (using integers) in the colour picker may lead to small errors.

Dave