Get accurate colors with good lighting

Updated

The camera sees the light that bounces off an object, so the light matters as much as the object. In dim or tinted light, colors shift and readings become unreliable. These steps help.

Start with good light

  • Read colors in bright, even light. Daylight works well.
  • Keep your own shadow, and your device's, off the object.
  • Hold your device still while you read. Or freeze the picture and read it at your own pace.

Watch for the low light warning

When the scene is too dark for a reliable reading, a note appears just below the crosshair: Low light — reading may be off. It starts with a small moon symbol.

  • Tap the note to turn on the camera light, if your camera has one and it's off.
  • With Announce Colors or VoiceOver on, you also hear Low light. Readings may be off., followed by Try the camera light. when the light is available. This is said at most once every 30 seconds.
  • If you freeze the picture in low light, the note stays on the frozen picture as a reminder.

Turn on the camera light

Tap Camera light, the flashlight button at the left end of the top bar. VoiceOver reads its state as On or Off.

  • With Announce Camera Light on, ColoredEye says The camera light is now on or The camera light has been turned off.
  • The button is unavailable while a picture is frozen, and when the camera you're using has no light.
  • Freezing the picture or flipping the camera turns the light off.

Correct for tinted light with white balance

Warm lamps, colored LEDs, or a scene full of one color can fool the camera. White balance tells ColoredEye what white looks like in the light you're in, and corrects every reading to match.

  1. Point the crosshair at something white or light gray, such as a sheet of paper.
  2. Tap White balance, the eyedropper button just right of Camera light in the top bar.
  3. With Announce Colors or VoiceOver on, you hear White balance set for this light. The eyedropper is now drawn full, and VoiceOver reads the button's state as Set for this light.
  4. Point at the object you want to read.

The correction stays on until you tap White balance again, switch cameras, or turn the camera light on or off. Then it goes back to automatic, and VoiceOver reads the state as Automatic.

White balance works on the live camera only. It's unavailable while a picture is frozen, but a picture you freeze keeps the correction.

If ColoredEye shows Can't Set White Balance:

  • That's too dark to set the white balance: add light or turn on the camera light, then try again.
  • That looks like a color rather than white or gray: the crosshair isn't on something white or gray. Try a sheet of paper.

Steady readings on patterned surfaces

On fabric, wood grain, or anything speckled, a single pixel can land on a thread or a fleck. Average a larger area instead:

  1. Tap Settings (the gear at the top right).
  2. Under Sampling, drag the Sample Size slider. It runs from A single pixel up to 101 × 101 pixel area.

The box in the middle of the crosshair grows to show the area being averaged. Keep it small to read fine details, such as a thin wire.