How to Make a Colour Palette from a Photo

To get a colour palette from a photo, open the Color Palette Generator, add the image, choose how many colours you want, and click Generate Palette!. The tool finds the most common colours in the picture and shows them as swatches with their codes — a quick way to build a scheme from a photo you love.

Generate a palette step by step

1. Open the Color Palette Generator.
2. Add the photo.
3. Choose the number of colours — 5 or 6 is a good palette size.
4. Click Generate Palette!.
5. Copy the colour codes you want to use.

Where palettes from photos are useful

• Brand and logo design: start from a photo that captures the mood — a coastline, a forest, a market — and build the brand colours from it.
• Websites and presentations: choose accent and background colours that harmonise with your hero image.
• Interior design: pull wall, fabric and accent colours from a photo of a room you like.
• Wedding and event themes: match invitations, flowers and decorations to a photo of the venue or a mood board.
• Art and illustration: borrow a painter's palette from a reference photo.
• Social media feeds: keep graphics consistent with your photography.

From palette to colour scheme

A palette of the most common colours isn't automatically a good scheme. Shape it:

1. Pick one dominant colour for large areas — usually a calm, neutral or muted tone from the palette.
2. Pick one or two secondary colours that work with it.
3. Pick one accent colour — the most vivid one — for buttons, highlights and calls to action. Use it sparingly.
4. Add neutrals: most schemes need a near-white and a near-black or dark grey for text.

The classic 60-30-10 rule — 60% dominant, 30% secondary, 10% accent — keeps designs balanced.

Choosing the right photo

• Strong, distinct colours give clear palettes; photos where everything is a similar beige give subtle ones.
• Crop to the part you like. If the sky dominates the photo but you want the colours of the flowers, crop to the flowers first.
• Lighting changes colours. Warm sunset light makes everything orange; daylight gives truer colours.

Getting exact colours

The palette shows the most common colours overall. To pick a specific colour from a specific spot — the exact red of a door, a brand colour in a logo — use the Image Color Picker, which also gives HEX, RGB, HSL and CMYK and checks text contrast.

Converting the codes

Need the palette in another format — RGB for an app, HSL for CSS, CMYK for a printed brief? Paste each code into the Color Code Converter to get every format at once.

Use the palette in charts

Consistent colours make reports look professional. Use your palette's colours in charts made with the Chart Maker, so graphs match your slides and brand.

Accessibility check

Before using palette colours for text, check contrast: light, pretty colours often aren't readable as text on white. The Image Color Picker shows contrast ratios against white and black with pass/fail verdicts.

Frequently asked questions

Is my photo uploaded?

No. The colours are analysed in your browser.

Why doesn't the palette include a colour I can see?

The palette shows the most common colours. A small but striking detail — a red umbrella in a grey street — may not make the cut. Crop to it, or pick it with the colour picker.

How many colours should a palette have?

Five or six covers most designs: one or two main colours, a couple of supporting ones, an accent and a neutral.