Color shifting/desaturating

I'm working with black & white images, converted to RGB color (sRGB), with a Gradient Map layer on top set to Color or Overlay mode with opacity scaled back to 20% or so (working with some of the PS default gradients for now). Going for that cross-processed look.

When I do Command-Shift-copy, make a new image, and paste the merged copy into the new image, the color is noticeably desaturated from the separate layered version (the new image is also sRGB).

Even if I just flatten the layered image then do something like Image Resize on it, I notice the color desaturates.

Really weird - wish it would stop. Not sure what to do.

Any ideas?

- Bob

when viewed @100% you should not see the shift from flattening.

the downsampled preview of some types of layer effects is inaccurate.

make a new image, and paste the merged copy into the new image, the

color is noticeably desaturated

Also, it would seem your New document has a different colorspace than your source document and you have Photoshop color management policies broken... be sure to convert the New document to the source profile (better yet set PS to warn you when the spaces don't match)....

John Slate - you are absolutely right. Now that IS irritating, since I'm working on film scans of b&w negs and they're pretty huge.

Guess I'll have to burn off a low-res copy for experimentation, then drag whatever Gradient Map layer I end up with to the high-res.

GB - as mentioned above both source and destination are sRGB, so that's not the issue. Good point though - that was the first thing I checked.

- Bob

Sorry I got mixed up... if you flatten the sRGB source file (or merge all layers to a top layer), copy and paste that into the new sRGB document, I don't see how there would be a shift, including simply resizing an sRGB document (unless I am missing something else?).

Sounds like something else is going on...but that's hard to say from here.