Tone CaliperExplore the colors inside your photo
Drop a photo and see its colors as a cloud of discs on a real color wheel — the way Tone Caliper sees them. Hover the photo to trace any color, set pins the way the app does, and export the palette. Free, and the photo never leaves your browser.
OKLab color wheel — the one the app is built around.
Why a wheel instead of swatches?
A strip of swatches shows which colors are present. A color wheel shows how they relate.
You can see whether colors cluster together or oppose each other, whether the image leans warm or cool, and whether its colors are vivid or restrained. Colors near the rim carry more chroma (color intensity); colors near the center are more muted.
Those relationships are often what make a palette feel intentional.
Reading the harmony
| Pattern on the wheel | Name | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| Colors clustered together | Analogous | Cohesive, calm |
| Two groups opposite each other | Complementary | Contrast, tension |
| Three groups spread around the wheel | Triadic | Lively, varied |
| Mostly one hue | Monochrome | Unified, atmospheric |
Frequently asked questions
How are the palette colors picked?
Your photo is sampled and clustered in OKLab, a perceptual color space designed so differences between colors more closely match what we see. Grays and near-whites are separated as neutrals, while each remaining color shows roughly how much of the image it represents.
What does a disc's position on the wheel mean?
Angle represents hue. Distance from the center represents chroma or color intensity: vivid colors sit farther out, while muted colors stay closer to the center. This makes the relationships between colors visible at a glance.
What does setting a pin do?
Click the photo to place a pin at that color on the wheel. The ring around it shows the colors within its range. In Tone Caliper, you can drag that same pin to move those colors directly in the photo, then refine its reach by luminance — shadows, midtones, or highlights.
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. Your photo never leaves your device. Analysis, palette generation and export all happen locally in your browser.
Why might the hex codes differ from other palette tools?
Many palette tools group colors directly in RGB. This tool clusters them in perceptual OKLab instead, so colors are grouped more closely by how similar they actually look. That can produce slightly different—and often more representative—swatches.
See your colors. Shape them directly.
Tone Caliper shows your image’s colors on an interactive wheel and lets you edit them right there.