here is the implemention of second step of @theodore 's answer
#include "opencv2/imgproc.hpp"
#include "opencv2/highgui.hpp"
#include "iostream"
using namespace cv;
bool isGrayImage( Mat img ) // returns true if the given 3 channel image is B = G = R
{
Mat dst;
Mat bgr[3];
split( img, bgr );
absdiff( bgr[0], bgr[1], dst );
if(countNonZero( dst ))
return false;
absdiff( bgr[0], bgr[2], dst );
return !countNonZero( dst );
}
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
static const char* str[] = {" is a COLOR image"," is a GRAY image"};
char* filename = argc >= 2 ? argv[1] : (char*)"fruits.jpg";
Mat src = imread(filename);
if(src.data)
{
std::cout << filename << str[isGrayImage( src )] << std::endl;
imshow(filename, src );
waitKey();
}
return 0;
}
you may find this answer useful