Customizing indexed color tables

The Color Table command lets you make changes to the color table of an indexed-color image. You can edit colors in the color table to produce special effects, or assign transparency in the image to a single color in the table.

To edit colors in the color table:

1 Open the indexed-color image.

2 Choose Image > Mode > Color Table.

3 Click or drag in the table to choose the color or range of colors you want to change.

4 Choose a color, as explained in Using the Adobe Color Picker, and click OK.

If you are changing a range of colors, Photoshop Elements creates a gradient in the color table between the starting and ending colors. The first color you choose in the Color Picker is the beginning color for the range. When you click OK, the Color Picker reappears so that you can choose the last color in the range.

The colors you selected in the Color Picker are placed in the range you selected in the Color Table dialog box.

5 Click Preview to view the results of the changes you have made to the image.

6 Click OK in the Color Table dialog box to apply the new colors to the indexed-color image.

To assign transparency to a single color:

1 Choose Image > Mode > Color Table.

2 Select the eyedropper, and click the desired color in the table or in the image. The sampled color is replaced with transparency in the image.

3 Click OK to close the color table.

To use a predefined color table:

1 Choose Image > Mode > Color Table.

2 Select an option from the Table menu:

Black Body Displays a palette based on the different colors a blackbody radiator emits as it is heated--from black to red, orange, yellow, and white.

Grayscale Displays a palette based on 256 levels of gray--from black to white.

Spectrum Displays a palette based on the colors produced as white light passes through a prism-- from violet, blue, and green to yellow, orange, and red.

System (Windows) Displays the standard Windows 256-color system palette.

System (Mac OS) Displays the standard Mac OS 256-color system palette.

To save a color table for use with other images:

Click the Save button in the Color Table dialog box. (See Using the Swatches palette for information on saving color tables.)

To load a saved color table:

Click the Load button in the Color Table dialog box. Once you load a color table into an image, the colors in the image change to reflect the color positions they reference in the new color table.

Note: You can also load saved color tables into the Swatches palette. (See Using the Swatches palette.)

Working with Color > Choosing a color mode > Customizing indexed color tables