I do have something you could try. It's not perfect by any means, but I think it helps.
Add a Photo Filter layer with these settings:
Then go to the Blend If Sliders and split the white one on the Underlying Layer, and take it almost all the way to the other end.
Then show me.
I agree about gradient map, but you wouldn't start there I don't think. Do the darkening first.
https://max.mailbigfile.com/0e30caf9b8b02b3c6f3dfe9797b1653d/listFiles.php
PDFs are so important for commercial printing.
But when all that's being printed is just an image, it's completely silly to demand PDF. Because the image will just be a jpeg file inside the added complexity of a PDF file. As you've just found out, it's too much extra that can go wrong.
Not yet, sorry.