How can I make the background of my pictures whiter?

Sometimes when you take a picture on a white surface, the "white" background doesn't quite look the way you want, either because of lighting or the settings you have in the camera.

This is a simple and quick fix tutorial for Photoshop.

This is the before and after. This shows what the tutorial will do to help.

Part 1 - Levels

First of all, open your picture with Photoshop. This is the picture I will use. This was taken with natural light from a window, and the pendant was on top of a glossy white furniture. As you can see, the background is gray and it doesn't look that good.

Picture before adjusting Levels

One simple fix is to type "Ctrl + L" (or go to Image - Adjustments - Levels, in the top toolbar)
This will open a small window over your picture like in the image below:

Now click and hold over the white arrow and slide it towards the first large black "spike". When you are dragging the arrow, you will be able to see exactly what will happen to your picture in terms of light. I usually draw the white arrow just until it touches the black spike as shown on the next picture:

The picture is looking better already! Don't over do the slider because you can drastically alter how the picture looks. once you have found the balance you like, click "Ok" and the dialog box will close and you will keep the changes.

Picture after adjusting the Levels

Part 2 - Replace Color

Sometimes, adjusting levels would be enough. But if you want to give it a fine tune, or if for example, you get a blue hue on your picture, you can do another simple fix.

Go to Image - Adjustments - Replace color. This will also open a small window. Usually what I do, is just hover with my mouse over my picture and click on the background color. You can click around and see how the selection changes. I just choose a tone not too bright and not too dark (from the background color only, not from the shadows of my object or my object itself.

Once you have selected the color, go the the lowest slider "Lightness" and slide it slowly to the right. You can see how the picture changes and once you are happy, just click "Ok".

I either look at the Sample square, or look at how my picture changes while I slide it. Normally I stop the slider when I get to a white color.

Part 3 - Your finished picture:

Picture after "Levels" and "Replace color" adjustments.

How easy was that? Now you have great pictures to show with very quick and easy changes. No need to retake the picture a million times until you get the white color right.

I hope this helps!