Help! Photoshop is in RGB mode but I can only paint in black and white

Question

It seems like Photoshop is stuck in B&W. As soon as I open my document, it shows at the top that it is in RGB/8 mode. I've tried clicking Image>mode>RGB again just to be sure but it's already set to RGB. The document is one layer so there's no way another layer is affecting it. Does anyone have an idea what may be going on? I'd appreciate any help I can get!

Answer 1

If it says rgb/8 then it is in rgb 8 bit mode.
If your opening a file, it could be 1 or more of the channels are missing or a single channel is selected. Take a look at the channels panel and see if the RGB channels are there and RGB is selected.
{odds are this is not it as the name of the channel would replace RGB/8 ex. selecting the B channel would display Blue/8 instead of RGB/8}
Make sure your document is not in quickmask mode (hitting the q key switches between quickmask and normal mode)
{odds are this is not it as quickmask/8 would be displayed instead of rgb/8}
Make sure you don't have a mask selected
{Odds are this is not it as layer mask/8 would be displayed instead of RGB/8}
Take a look at your swatches and verify there are colors there and not shades of gray
{Odds are this is not true because RGB/8 is displayed}
And finally verify what adjustment layers are applied to the layers panel - Several adjustments are capable of changing the display to black and white while retaining the RGB/8 mode.
If none of this helps then post a screen shot of photoshop with the layers panel and the channels panel open. You can drag a panel away from the docked position to keep it open.