Over this past weekend, I thought I would give the Color Capture App on my new iPad a test run to see how it worked.

This application is simple and easy to use! You can ‘capture’ (take a picture) of something you would like to find the colors of  the product and the image will upload into the program to start.  You can also use a picture from your photo album you have saved and upload it into the app.

I am thinking of painting a dark blue color behind my bedroom screen, so I started with trying to ‘capture’ the blue in the bedding.

Very quickly the app gave me a couple great color suggestions.  Depending on the  light/brightness of the photo, you will receive various color readings.  It is up to you to determine which color is the best match.  *An important note: to find the best results, you should have Ben Moore color fan decks with you to be able to  check the color suggestions against the captured object (in my case, it was my comforter).

The app gave me the color of midnight navy, 2067-10.  I thought it was a good suggestion.  I even looked through the fan deck to see if I could find a better match but I could not. You have a choice to look at the color in the strip or harmony. I really liked the feature of harmony because it gives you color suggestions to coordinate with your color choice.  I would not have thought to try green with the blue, but look how well green works with the bedding:

So then I went on to something more complicated:

The green read perfect:

The brown and red came in as a perfect match:

The teal was a bit trickier:

It is not a perfect match but again I tried to find a better color sample and I could not. Maybe Ben Moore does not make that particular color and this was the closest match.

My next test was to find out if the app worked better or differently based on the brightness of the object.  I first ‘captured’ a picture in the sunlight:

The colors were all reading beautifully:

Then I tried the shade:

The colors readings were not coming out very accurate in the shade.  They were reading darker which makes sense because the colors are darker in the shade. I  would stay with the sunlight/bright lighting for a more accurate match.

One last test.  The color capture app was working great with fabric, but what about with neutral wall colors?  This is how they all came out:

The color above is supposed to be honeymoon af-345.  Same thing happened with alexandria beige hc-77. All gray.  Next I tried a wall painted raisin torte 2083-10:

And it read as this:

I tried with blues also, no luck.  It has to be the reflective value of the walls. The app was suggesting colors based on reading the walls as the picture came out- which was correct, just was not the same as the wall color.

My conclusions of the Ben Moore Color Capture app experience:

1)  I was really impressed with how well it worked with different fabrics. However, I was not impressed with the accuracy of painted wall colors.

2)  The color suggestions are most accurate when picture is taken in bright light or sunlight.

3) You should have the Ben Moore fan decks with you to check accuracy of color suggestions.

4)  The only problem I found that I was disappointed with was the combo and saving feature. I tried to save a few favorites and then when I tried to retrieve in ‘combos’, the program would automatically shut down and bring you back to your home screen. I tried to find support but could not find help anywhere on app or online.

5) I really liked the harmony feature.  It gives you other coordinating colors to work with that you might not have thought of yourself.

Overall, I really like the app and will continue to use with fabric.  Plus it was free! What more could you ask for when looking for help in selecting a paint color?

Comments?  Have you tried this app yet? Did you think it was accurate?

If you need help finding perfect colors for your home, contact me today!