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Participant
December 29, 2022
Question

Grayscale tiff file back to color?

  • December 29, 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 4584 views

Hello,

I was wondering if it is possible to change a tiff file in grayscale mode to color? The file was orginially in color but then converted to grayscale mode and and saved as a tiff file. 

Can anyone help with this?

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4 replies

George_F
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 29, 2022

There are ways to colorize a grayscale image, but I do not believe it's possible to revert back to the original colors.

 

This doesn't help you now, but for future projects I'd recommend making an additional layer to convert to grayscale as a way of working non-destructively.  

 

George F, Photographer & Forum Volunteer
gener7
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 29, 2022

You have MacOS according to your tags, you can recover older versions using Time Machine sometimes without an external drive if it's no more than a day or two. MacOS APFS file system does keep local file snapshots which would restore the file before you converted it.

https://www.imore.com/how-us-time-machine-local-snapshots-recover-data-your-mac-laptop

 

There are also great cloud storage backup options, Backblaze being my personal favorite.

If restoring files is going to cost time, money and business, it may be well worth the investment.

https://www.pcmag.com/picks/best-backup-services

c.pfaffenbichler
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 29, 2022

If necessary try 

Filter > Neural Filters > Colorize 

George_F
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 29, 2022

I've been meaning to try this filter!  Does it work well?  I don't run into a situation where I need to colorize a b&w very often.  All the ways I know to colorize a grayscale image are complicated and time consuming.

George F, Photographer & Forum Volunteer
TheDigitalDog
Inspiring
December 29, 2022

Can you convert Grayscale mode to Color; yes. Use the Image>Mode menu option. Now instead of one color channel, you have three (RGB)

Will the color reappear; NO. 

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
Seano1Author
Participant
December 29, 2022

Then there would be no way to get the color back?

TheDigitalDog
Inspiring
December 29, 2022
quote

Then there would be no way to get the color back?


By @Seano1

The original color rendering is gone from that document. 

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"