Colour adjustment question - compensate for yellow lighting

Chat about the original Pixelmator.
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2019-09-23 07:59:14

I take product photos using fluorescent soft-boxes with the product on a light grey background sheet.

The photos, in their un-messed-with form have a yellow-grey background instead of the pure grey that was actually there.

I currently handle this by goosing the exposure to lift the colours, then I select the background using the magic eraser and drop a can of white paint on it. The result is acceptable but the colours are not perfect.

I have spent a few frustrating hours mucking about unproductively with the colour adjustment tools in Pixelmator and I have not found any way to correct the colours to get back to a pure grey background.

Any hints? I have looked at a bunch of videos, some dating back to the 16th century, and I am no closer to a solution. I don't want to add my soft-boxes to the world's growing trash pile unless I have to. There must be a software solution, right?

Thanks for your help,
Russ
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2019-09-23 09:17:47

Hi Russ, this sounds like it would be a job for the White Balance adjustment, but this was added in Pixelmator Pro and was never available in the original Pixelmator, so my questions is — are you using Pixelmator or Pixelmator Pro? Fixing the color cast would be possible in the original Pixelmator, just a little more complex.
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2019-09-23 11:09:18

Andrius,
Thank you for your reply. I am currently using Pixelmator - the original. Bought it when it first came out, but only recently started pushing my boundaries in it.
Russ
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2019-09-23 15:13:45

In that case, the Color Balance adjustment might be your best bet here. You can apply the Color Balance adjustment and move the Yellow/Blue slider towards Blue in the Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights tabs as appropriate.