Color Hunt Photo Challenge: How to Play the Color Hunt Trend
Pick a color. Go for a walk. Photograph everything you find in that color. Then put it all into one collage. Here's how the color hunt works, with ideas for each color, versions for dates and groups, and tips for a better final grid.
What is a color hunt?
A color hunt (also called a color walk, color hunting, or colour hunt) is a simple photo color hunt game that took off on TikTok and Instagram. You choose one color (or get one at random), head outside, and look for things in that color: a door, a bike, a flower, a coffee cup, a road sign. Every find goes into one cell of a photo grid.
The final color hunt collage (or colour hunting collage, if you're in the UK) is the fun part. Lots of unrelated objects tied together by a single color. It's the kind of picture people stop scrolling for.
It works because you start noticing things. A street you walk every day suddenly turns into a scavenger hunt.
How to do a color hunt (step by step)
- Pick a color. Choose one yourself, draw one from a hat, or let an app choose at random. A random color adds surprise and stops you from picking the easy one.
- Choose your grid size. This is your color hunting template. 3×3 (9 photos) is the classic. Go 2×2 for a quick 20-minute walk, or 4×4 if you want a full afternoon.
- Set the rules (optional). A time limit (30–60 minutes works well), no reusing the same kind of object, or "the color must fill at least half the frame."
- Go for a walk and shoot. Streets, parks, markets, shops, cafés. Anything in your color counts. Go close, shoot from odd angles, and include small details.
- Make the collage. Put your photos into the grid, reorder them until the composition feels balanced, and add a title like the color, the date, or the city.
- Share it. Post it with #colorhunt. If you played with friends, post all the grids side by side.
Color hunt ideas: what to look for
Stuck? Here's where each color tends to hide, roughly from easiest to hardest.
Red Easy
Stop signs, fire hydrants, postboxes, brake lights, tomatoes, roses, café umbrellas, brick, phone boxes, shop logos.
Yellow Easy
Taxis, road markings, lemons, bananas, sunflowers, bike lanes, hard hats, warning signs, autumn leaves, rubber ducks.
Green Easy
Leaves, moss, park benches, exit signs, bottles, limes, recycling bins, pharmacy crosses, painted doors, avocados.
Blue Easy
Sky, doors, jeans, street signs, bikes, shutters, water, tiles, parking signs, blue hour light, recycling bins.
Orange Medium
Traffic cones, oranges, pumpkins, safety vests, sunsets, rust, construction fences, street lamps, cats.
Pink Medium
Blossoms, flamingos, macarons, graffiti, shop fronts, bubble gum, bikes, neon signs, sneakers, donuts.
Brown Medium
Coffee, tree bark, wooden doors, leather bags, dogs, bread, chocolate, benches, fallen leaves, boots.
Purple Hard
Lavender, grapes, eggplants, lilacs, purple sunsets, scooters, posters, umbrellas, nail polish.
Want more of a challenge? Try black, white, or grey. They're everywhere, so the hard part is making nine photos that don't all look the same.
Color hunt variations
Color hunt date
A great low-budget date idea (and our favorite color hunting date). Each of you draws a color, you split up (or walk together) for 45 minutes, then meet at a café and swap phones to reveal your grids. Bonus: whoever loses buys the coffee.
Color hunt game with friends or as a group
Give everyone the same grid size but a different color. When everyone's done, the grids together make a rainbow. For a competitive version, add a time limit and vote on the best collage.
Color hunt for kids and families
Use a small 2×2 grid and an easy color like red or yellow. Kids are often better at spotting colors than adults, and a color photo challenge keeps a walk interesting.
Travel color hunt
Do one color hunt in every city you visit. The same color in Lisbon, Tokyo, and your hometown makes a surprisingly personal travel record.
Daily color streak
Instead of filling the grid in one walk, take one photo per day in the same color. After 9 days you have a grid. It's a slow, mindful version of the trend.
Emoji hunt
Swap colors for emojis: each cell gets an emoji (🐶 🚲 ☕ 🌸…) and you have to find something real that matches it. It's harder, funnier, and great for groups.
Tips for a better color hunt collage
- Mix scales. Combine close-ups (a button, a petal) with wide shots (a whole building, a car). A grid of only close-ups looks flat.
- Fill the frame. Get close enough that your color is the main subject, not a small spot in the corner.
- Watch the light. Overcast days give you true, even colors. Golden hour makes warm colors glow but can push blues toward grey.
- Vary the shades. "Blue" covers navy, sky blue, and teal. A spread of shades looks richer than nine identical tones.
- Balance the grid. Put the strongest photo in the center and spread similar shots apart.
- Try a color splash edit. Turning everything except your color black and white makes the theme stand out.
The color hunt app: play with PatchWalk
Making the collage by hand means taking photos, cropping each one, and then putting them together in a separate editor. PatchWalk is a free color hunt app and color collage maker built for the challenge: it gives you a color and a grid, you shoot straight into each cell, and the collage is ready the moment you finish.
- Color Hunt, Emoji Hunt, and daily Color Streak modes
- Dozens of grid layouts, from 2×2 to creative mixed designs
- Group quests: invite friends with a code, and each player gets their own color
- Optional timer, a built-in photo editor, and the Color Splash filter
- No account needed. Photos stay on your phone
Color hunt FAQ
What is a color hunt?
A color hunt is a photo challenge where you pick one color, go for a walk, and photograph everything you find in that color. At the end, the photos are combined into a grid collage that shows a single color across many different objects.
How many photos do you need for a color hunt?
There is no fixed rule. A 3×3 grid of 9 photos is the most popular size because it is quick to fill and looks good on social media. A 2×2 grid works well for a short walk, and 4×4 or larger grids make a longer challenge.
What is the best color for a color hunt?
Red and yellow are the easiest colors for beginners because they are common on signs, cars, flowers, and storefronts. Blue and green are easy outdoors. Pink, purple, orange, and brown are harder and make a more satisfying challenge.
How do you play a color hunt with friends?
Give each person a different color and the same grid size, optionally with a time limit. Everyone hunts separately and then you compare collages at the end. You can also play as a team and fill one grid together.
Is a color hunt a good date idea?
Yes. A color hunt is a cheap, low-pressure date: you walk, talk, and notice things together. Each person can take a color, or you can draw one at random and race to fill the grid.
Is there a color hunting app?
Yes. PatchWalk is a free color hunting app (a color hunt or color walk app) for iOS and Android, built for the color hunt challenge. It gives you a color and a collage grid, lets you capture photos straight into each cell, supports group quests with invite codes, and exports a finished collage ready for sharing.