White Point Eyedropper in Levels Adjustment Overcorrects and Blows Out Image

[A Nova]

I’ve noticed a frustrating change in Photoshop’s Levels adjustment tool. When using the white point eyedropper to set the white point by sampling in the image, the correction is now much more intense and immediately blows out the highlights, destroying shadow details. Previously, clicking a light but not pure white area would produce a subtle, balanced adjustment, preserving tonal range.

This new behavior makes it impossible to maintain shadows while using the white point eyedropper and significantly disrupts my workflow. Is there any way to restore the previous, more forgiving behavior, or could this be addressed in a future update?

[D Fosse]

The Levels white point eyedropper does not behave like a standard white balance eydropper, and it never has.

It brings the clicked point right up to 255-255-255, in other words, blown out.

[A Nova]

I have video of it working like that, from before it stopped working.  Notice how it doesn't immediatley make it pure white?  I click it a few times to get it to where I want it.  I'm saying it no longer works like this and I was curious if anyone had any insight as to why that was or how I could get it to work like that again.

[A Nova]

So I just imagined it working like that then?

[D Fosse]

That's how the white point eyedropper has always worked in the Photoshop Levels dialog.

A white balance eydropper, like you have in Camera Raw/Lightroom, works like you originally described.

[A Nova]

please reference my above comment, I have a video of it working the way I'm describing it.