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PNG looked washed out compared to originals

I am exporting pdf files from Adobe InDesign, then opening the pdf files in Photoshop, then saving as png files to drag into BookSmart. The InDesign files look great, as do the pdf files, but when converted to png files, the photos are washed out, especially the blacks. When I then view them in BookSmart, they have the same washed-out look. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? I followed all the pdf settings as illustrated in the screen shot in the tutorial.

Thanks in advance for anyone with an opinion, especially of your experience is similar.

Thanks Jeremy, I could find no "Appearance and Handling of Black, or any of those individual words actually, in the InDesign/Preferences. I went to InDesign/Window/Swatches and clicked the Black Registration rectangle when Swatches opened up, then saved the InDesign page again to pdf, opened THAT in Photoshop and saved as a PNG. The images still looked washed out. Jpegs dropped into the BookSmart templates look fine, and the pdfs exported from Indesign look fine, so it seems that something other than InDesign may be to blame? If you have any further ideas I would be grateful. -Richard

Howdy,

Under InDesign’s Preferences menu, Appearance of Black is an option towards the bottom. This settings is important, since even if you’re selected Registration as your swatch (and your black type is therefore 0,0,0 RGB), you’ll want to ensure InDesign actually outputs rich black type.

Lee, thanks for the suggestion. I can do the levels adjustment, but the colors and contrast are affected, and it would be more experiemental— to see if the result was acceptable— than effective, I think. I really appreciate your help. -Richard