"""Produce custom labelling for a colorbar. Contributed by Scott Sinclair """ import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np from numpy.random import randn # Make plot with vertical (default) colorbar fig = plt.figure() ax = fig.add_subplot(111) data = np.clip(randn(250, 250), -1, 1) cax = ax.imshow(data, interpolation='nearest') ax.set_title('Gaussian noise with vertical colorbar') # Add colorbar, make sure to specify tick locations to match desired ticklabels cbar = fig.colorbar(cax, ticks=[-1, 0, 1]) cbar.ax.set_yticklabels(['< -1', '0', '> 1'])# vertically oriented colorbar # Make plot with horizontal colorbar fig = plt.figure() ax = fig.add_subplot(111) data = np.clip(randn(250, 250), -1, 1) cax = ax.imshow(data, interpolation='nearest') ax.set_title('Gaussian noise with horizontal colorbar') cbar = fig.colorbar(cax, ticks=[-1, 0, 1], orientation='horizontal') cbar.ax.set_xticklabels(['Low', 'Medium', 'High'])# horizontal colorbar plt.show()