I’ve been doing a number of product shots lately (more for fun than profit) and have taken to using the Set White Point tool in Photoshop to correct the exposure and color casts.  Of course, this the correct way to go about this would be to accurately set the color temperature and proper exposure in camera.  However, when in a hurry, I don’t always have the time.  So when the results to count too much, and you have something in the photo that should be true white, the Set White Point works pretty good in a pinch.

Here’s an example photo which looks like it needs some work.  The background is a piece of pure white seamless background paper so I know something is there which represents pure white.  The only thing done up to this point was to crop and resize.

With the open in Photoshop, open the Levels dialog window: Image ->  Adjustments -> Levels

For this example, with a white background, click on the rightmost dropper above the Preview checkbox.  This is the Set White Point tool.  Then, easy cheesy, click on a point in the photo where it should be pure white.

Click OK and you get a photo that’s pretty good considering what little work went into it.

You can also use this method with the  Set Black Point and Set Gray Point tools depending on what is in your photo.  Play around with the point on the photo and you can get a variety of effects.  As I said, it’s no substitute for proper exposure and color temperature, and even more detailed and thorough levels adjustments in Photoshop, but it sure is fast and can fix a variety of minor goofs.