Generate Color Palette from Photo Generate a complete color palette from any uploaded photograph.

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Palette from Photo

Generate a complete color palette from any uploaded photograph.

Upload a Photo

Drop or browse for any photograph.

Review Your Color Palette

A curated color palette is automatically extracted and sorted by luminance.

Copy Palette

Copy individual colors, all HEX values, or the palette as JSON.

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What Is Palette from Photo?

Palette from Photo generates a curated color palette from any uploaded photograph by analyzing pixel data and extracting the most representative colors. Unlike the basic Image Color Extractor, this tool sorts the resulting palette by luminance for a natural, aesthetically pleasing arrangement from light to dark. The extraction algorithm groups similar pixels into color buckets, averages each bucket, filters out near-duplicates, and orders the result for immediate usability as a design palette. The tool is designed for designers who want to create color schemes inspired by photographs — whether it is a sunset, a product photo, a nature scene, or any visual reference. The output includes individual copy buttons, copy-all as comma-separated HEX values, and copy as JSON array for programmatic use.

Why Use Palette from Photo?

Smart extraction sorted by luminance for usable palettes
Adjustable palette size from 4 to 16 colors
Deduplication filters overly similar colors
Multiple copy formats: individual, all HEX, and JSON
Browser-based — photos never leave your device

Common Use Cases

Design Inspiration

Generate color palettes from inspiring photographs for web, print, or interior design projects.

Brand Development

Extract color themes from brand photography to inform brand color decisions.

Social Media

Create color-coordinated social media posts by extracting palette from your key image.

Art Direction

Analyze the color composition of reference images for art direction and mood boards.

Technical Guide

The extraction algorithm processes images at a maximum of 300×300 pixels for performance. Pixels are quantized by rounding RGB values to the nearest multiple of 32, creating 32,768 possible color buckets. Each bucket stores a running average of its actual pixel colors and a frequency count. Buckets are sorted by frequency (most common first), then filtered for minimum Euclidean RGB distance of 80 between selected colors to ensure diversity. The final palette is sorted by HSL lightness for natural visual arrangement. The bucket averaging produces colors that represent the center of each cluster rather than exact pixel values, resulting in more representative palette colors. The algorithm is a simplified form of median-cut quantization, optimized for speed and quality balance in browser-based extraction.

Tips & Best Practices

1
Photos with distinct color areas produce the best palettes — avoid busy, multi-colored images
2
Landscape photos (sunsets, oceans, forests) tend to produce beautiful, natural palettes
3
Product photos against solid backgrounds may include the background as a dominant color
4
Try different palette sizes — 5-8 colors usually produces the most usable palette
5
The JSON copy format is useful for importing into design tools and code

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q How is this different from Image Color Extractor?

Palette from Photo produces a more curated result: colors are sorted by luminance, have wider minimum distance (less similarity), and the algorithm uses finer averaging for more representative colors.

Q What photo types work best?

Photos with distinct color regions work best — landscapes, still life, fashion, and architecture. Busy, highly detailed photos may produce less coherent palettes.

Q Can I use the palette commercially?

Yes, the extracted colors are mathematical values — they cannot be copyrighted. The source photograph may have copyright, but color values derived from it are free to use.

About This Tool

Palette from Photo is a free online tool by FreeToolkit.ai. All processing happens directly in your browser — your data never leaves your device. No registration or installation required.