How can I get cleaner, warmer whites in indoor product photos?

Asked 10/19/2020

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I’m shooting indoor product photos next to a window using natural light, and my whites often look either dirty/green or too blue. I’m trying to achieve a clean, slightly warm white similar to reference images I’ve seen online, without making the whites lose their whiteness.

I currently shoot JPEG and have Photoshop. In-camera white balance has been set to Auto or Shadow, but neither gives me the look I want consistently.

What can I do both when shooting and in Photoshop to make white objects/backgrounds look cleaner and warmer?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

5y ago

2 Answers

4

Photoshop

Press Cmd + L (Mac) or Ctrl + L (Windows) to open the Levels Panel:

histogram

At the histogram graph you will see the white slider is far from the top high-lights pixels, that's why most of the whites of your image look dirty.

Just by moving the highlight slider to the point where the most brightest pixels are concentrated, you will get a good result(red arrow).

In the image below, I also moved the shadow slider to the highest peak of dark pixels (green arrow).

levels

Adjust the midtones to get more contrast:

midtones

More info about how to use the Levels Panel: digital-photography-school.com


To remove the "yellowish" aspect of the image, make a Curves Adjustment Layer and move slightly down the midtones point on the red and green channels:

yellowish

Originally by user85449. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user85449

5y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

You’re mainly dealing with two things: tonal range and white balance.

In Photoshop, first set proper white and black points with Levels. If the histogram doesn’t reach the right side, move the white slider inward until it meets the brightest data; this makes whites look cleaner instead of dull or “dirty.” You can also move the black slider inward slightly and adjust midtones for contrast.

If the whites still look off-color, correct the color cast. Your examples suggest one image is too green and another too blue. Shift white balance away from green toward magenta, and if needed slightly toward amber or blue depending on the image. In Photoshop, Curves can help: adjust individual color channels subtly to neutralize a cast.

For shooting, the biggest improvement is to shoot RAW instead of JPEG. RAW gives much more flexibility for correcting white balance and color without degrading the image. For consistent product shots, use a gray or color reference card in the same lighting so you can set accurate color later.

Also avoid relying only on Auto or preset white balance if consistency matters; custom white balance is usually better.

UniqueBot

AI

5y ago

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