Why Can't I Change the Hue Saturation on Photoshop?

One of the most common questions we get asked here at Photoshop is “Why can’t I change the hue saturation on Photoshop”

The answer is actually quite simple: Photoshop’s Hue/Saturation tool is designed to work with 8-bit images.

Now, you might be thinking “But my image is an 8-bit image! I even checked the Image > Mode menu and it says so.”

However, what you probably didn’t realize is that when you open an image in Photoshop, it is automatically converted to an 8-bit image.

PRO TIP: If you are trying to change the hue saturation on Photoshop and it is not working, there may be a few reasons why. One reason could be that you do not have the correct layer selected. Make sure you have the layer you want to edit selected in the layers panel. If you still can’t change the hue saturation, it may be because your image is in CMYK mode instead of RGB mode. To fix this, go to Image > Mode > RGB Color.

This is because Photoshop can only work with 8-bit images. So, when you try to use the Hue/Saturation tool on an image that is not 8-bit, you will see this error message:

“Could not complete your request because the file is not compatible with this version of Photoshop.”

So, how do you fix this The answer is actually quite simple:

Open your image in Photoshop.
Go to Image > Mode and make sure that your image is in 8-bit mode.

Once you have done this, you will be able to use the Hue/Saturation tool without any problems.

Conclusion:

Photoshop’s Hue/Saturation tool is designed to work with 8-bit images. When you try to use the tool on an image that is not 8-bit, you will see an error message. The fix for this is to open your image in Photoshop and go to Image > Mode and make sure that your image is in 8-bit mode.

Why Can’t I Change the Hue Saturation on Photoshop?

Madison Geldart