diff --git a/GreenshotPlugin/Core/Effects.cs b/GreenshotPlugin/Core/Effects.cs
index 63f42c574..4dcbd2912 100644
--- a/GreenshotPlugin/Core/Effects.cs
+++ b/GreenshotPlugin/Core/Effects.cs
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ namespace Greenshot.Core {
 	/// </summary>
 	public class DropShadowEffect : IEffect {
 		public DropShadowEffect() {
-			Darkness = 1f;
+			Darkness = 0.6f;
 			ShadowSize = 9;
 			ShadowOffset = new Point(-1, -1);
 		}
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ namespace Greenshot.Core {
 			set;
 		}
 		public virtual Image Apply(Image sourceImage, out Point offsetChange) {
-			return ImageHelper.CreateShadow(sourceImage, Darkness, ShadowSize, ShadowOffset, out offsetChange, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb); //Image.PixelFormat);
+			return ImageHelper.CreateShadow(sourceImage, Darkness, ShadowSize, ShadowOffset, out offsetChange, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/GreenshotPlugin/Core/ImageOutput.cs b/GreenshotPlugin/Core/ImageOutput.cs
index 8bf639032..43547d583 100644
--- a/GreenshotPlugin/Core/ImageOutput.cs
+++ b/GreenshotPlugin/Core/ImageOutput.cs
@@ -259,23 +259,28 @@ namespace GreenshotPlugin.Core {
 
 				// check for color reduction, forced or automatically, only when the DisableReduceColors is false 
 				if (!outputSettings.DisableReduceColors && (conf.OutputFileAutoReduceColors || outputSettings.ReduceColors)) {
-					using (WuQuantizer quantizer = new WuQuantizer((Bitmap)imageToSave)) {
-						int colorCount = quantizer.GetColorCount();
-						LOG.InfoFormat("Image with format {0} has {1} colors", imageToSave.PixelFormat, colorCount);
-						if (outputSettings.ReduceColors || colorCount < 256) {
-							try {
-								LOG.Info("Reducing colors on bitmap to 256.");
-								tmpImage = quantizer.GetQuantizedImage(256);
-								if (disposeImage) {
-									imageToSave.Dispose();
+					bool isAlpha = Image.IsAlphaPixelFormat(imageToSave.PixelFormat);
+					if (outputSettings.ReduceColors || (!isAlpha && conf.OutputFileAutoReduceColors)) {
+						using (WuQuantizer quantizer = new WuQuantizer((Bitmap)imageToSave)) {
+							int colorCount = quantizer.GetColorCount();
+							LOG.InfoFormat("Image with format {0} has {1} colors", imageToSave.PixelFormat, colorCount);
+							if (outputSettings.ReduceColors || colorCount < 256) {
+								try {
+									LOG.Info("Reducing colors on bitmap to 256.");
+									tmpImage = quantizer.GetQuantizedImage(256);
+									if (disposeImage) {
+										imageToSave.Dispose();
+									}
+									imageToSave = tmpImage;
+									// Make sure the "new" image is disposed
+									disposeImage = true;
+								} catch (Exception e) {
+									LOG.Warn("Error occurred while Quantizing the image, ignoring and using original. Error: ", e);
 								}
-								imageToSave = tmpImage;
-								// Make sure the "new" image is disposed
-								disposeImage = true;
-							} catch (Exception e) {
-								LOG.Warn("Error occurred while Quantizing the image, ignoring and using original. Error: ", e);
 							}
 						}
+					} else if (isAlpha && !outputSettings.ReduceColors) {
+						LOG.Info("Skipping color reduction as the image has alpha");
 					}
 				}
 			}