Photoshop export/save as PNG causing colours to washout/appear more dull.

So i was having the same issue, i was trying to export as a png and it dulled the colors so much!! I did a quick export as png and it worked showing the true colors. Not really a fix but i guess an alternative soloution. 

I tried something else just now.

I turned off the adjustment layer, exported the file as PNG, reimported, added a black background behind the new PNG I just created. It has the same colours as the main PSD. No dullness. When I turned the adjustment layer back on, and did another export, and reimported it, the issue returned.

Now, how do I utilize the adjustment layer in a manner that it doesn't go about doing its own thing during the final save/export?

@NB__colourmanagement 

I have tested flattening with the black background, and during flattening, it works just fine. However, I'm trying to save/export it as transparent background, so flattening is out of the question because flattening without the black background just gives it a white background.

Hi,

you've had some very helpful suggestioins here,

but just to separate colour profile / file format change and flattening issues why not test by simply flattening first, retaining the same file format. 

When you flatten during save and that’s also to another file format there are too many variables at play to know where the issue arises.

I hope this helps

if so, please "like" my reply

thanks

neil barstow, colourmanagement.net

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Bump.

"Screenshots 2 and 3 are what the end result look like outside of PS when I export/save as PNG."

OK, we need to get this out of the way first, because you don't understand: When you Export, it's a new file. It's not the same file anymore. It may have a different color profile, but most likely it doesn't have a profile at all, because Export strips the profile by default.

So already here we have a lot of variables. This isn't trivial. This is important! Don't brush it off. Here's how you check the profile:

Anyway. If you have confirmed that all three are indeed sRGB, and all have that sRGB profile embedded, then we can move on.

The next possibility is that there are overlying layers, or clipped layers, that modify it. Because of the forum software I can't see the details of your Layer panel.

If all this checks out, it could be the new layer compositing engine, which uses the GPU and is vulnerable to driver bugs. This has caused problems for a lot of people. To get around that, go into Photoshop Preferences and check "Legacy Compositing", so that Photoshop uses the old CPU-based layer compositing. Save out a new copy and see if there's still a difference.

There is yet another gotcha that could cause something like this. If you view at any other zoom ratio than 100%, you may get inaccurate adjustment previews. I see you're at 25% here. This happens with noisy or "binary" images (line art, halftone screen, anything with very sharp and crisp pixel-level transitions). It has to do with the way adjustment previews are calculated to keep up performance. I can't see if that applies here, it's not an issue with continuous-tone images.

But to rule that out, go to 100% and check again.

What is the color profile of your original? Exporting changes the profile to sRGB rather than Adobe RGB 1998 or some other higher gammut profile.