exported a b+w image in lightroom 5

N

nikon ken man

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1
Name
ken
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi guys, joined the forum to see if I can get some help with this one.
I turned an image to b+w in Lightroom 5 and exported the image to an external hard drive.
I imported in back into Lightroom but can't return it to the original colour version.
How do I do this ? Tryed reset but this doesn't work.
Any help would be good, cheers, Ken
 
You can't change the image you exported. You've taken it from Lightroom and saved it, so the changes are permanent.

If you've got the original file still in Lightroom then that will reset just fine.
 
If I'm reading this correctly... you've exported an image which was processed to be B+W, now you've imported that image which is now B+W and expecting to be able to restore to the original? That's not going to happen because you've imported an entirely new, and different, image.

Go back to the original (from which you converted to B+W [you still have it, didn't delete it?] ) and you can reset that to it's original. imported, unprocessed state!
 
When you export an image, Lightroom makes a copy of it and sends it wherever you export to. The original is unchanged. Because it's a physical copy, when you re-import it you're actually adding it as another separate image to your collection. As others have said, your original image will still be there and now you should have two images (one black & white and one your original) in your catalogue. They may look the same in the interface because your original is still showing your black & white processing. If you sort by "date/time taken" both images should sit next to each other and if you look at the filenames you will notice they are different. One will be the original with edits you can "undo" to get it back to the as-shot image. The other will be a fixed black & white version that you can't revert.

Oh - and welcome to TP!
 
Last edited:
When you export out of Lightroom you are most likely exporting a file into an RGB state and the bw conversion will be baked into the pixels, the original RAW file on the other hand will still be intact and pressing the Reset in the Develop Module should return that file back to its original state.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top