Edge of photo showing up on dark background

[katlam429]

On the cover of my brochure I'm using an image I've imported from Photoshop as a .tif with layers and transparency (CMYK, 300 dpi). The actual tif file consists of only one layer, with the background cut out of it.

When placed on top of a dark background in Indesign, I can see the rectangle edge of the photo because it's changed the background color to be darker. I should also mention that I don't see any of this darkening until I print, as it doesn't show up in the actual computer file or if I export to a .pdf and view it in Acrobat.

If I stretch the image's rectangle frame to go off the edge of the page, then I can't see the edge anymore, so I suppose it's darkening the entire page evenly.
This of course is a quick fix, but I'd rather figure out why it's happening in the first place. Any thoughts?


P.S. I don't see this happening on the pages with lighter backgrounds, perhaps because the change is too slight. I'm worried that if I print it offset that I'll see it only too late.

 

[jimoblak]

The color mode of the overlaid photo should be the same as the color mode of the underlying background (CMYK, RGB, Spot). For example: you should not place a RGB TIF over a CMYK shape in InDesign.

Review your print settings so that transparency flattening is at the highest resolution.

If this does not resolve the issue, contact your RIP/printer provider to determine if they support output from InDesign.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[katlam429]

Thanks for your response.

Both the brochure document colors and placed images are CMYK. I've gone through and set up a transparency style with a flattener resolution of 1600 dpi and gradient resolution of 1600 dpi (both the highest settings). I have the balance set between the Raster/Vector Balance in the middle of the two equally.

If I select this transparency style when I print from Indesign, or export as a pdf with the same style and print from acrobat with high transparencies selected, I'm still getting the edge.

I'm in Indesign 2.0 and export it for acrobat 5.0, but print it from acrobat 6.0.

Is this a standard problem? Or would it be my printer that's causing the problem?

 

[jimoblak]

A good way to test if your printer is the problem is to try another printer.

Can you describe your printer?

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[katlam429]

I have a HP photosmart p1100.

I've been fooling around with it all day, and I think I've found a way around it.

First off, let me list what didn't work for me, even after fooling with the transparency flattener settings and placing .psd files instead of .tifs:
1. Directly printing from Indesign to my printer.
2. Printing from Indesign to a postscript file and distilling it to a pdf, and printing from Acrobat.
3. Exporting the file as a pdf, and printing from Acrobat.

What seems to work is this:
1. Printing from Indesign to a PDF file, and in the print preferences making sure that the color profile is correct and the transparency settings are as high as they'll go. Then printing the file from Acrobat.

Acrobat is a correct name, considering all the hoops I've jumped through. Whew!

 

[jimoblak]

I suspect that this is not a PostScript printer so that would explain why color is not being output well from InDesign and Acrobat.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[texasjoe]

Printing to Adobe PDF via Acrobat seems to work best for us, as well. We are using 2.0, but I've heard the export to PDF function on InDesign CS works much better than the export in versions 1 and 2. We found the "export" to PDF function in version 2 to be problematic, which was why we decided to buy Acrobat.

 

[Innova]

I have the same problem, but in my case the entire background of the imported pic is a different colour. Please help me, I tried everything and it's a time critical project.

As with the previous users, the problem shows only when printed. The client has only a Canon i250 printer. I have been unable to test on other printers.

This is what I had to do: I had to make other pdfs based on a single pdf, changing pics and text. To save time, I decided to open it up in Illustrator, just do the modifications and save it right back. It works but when printed, the problem appears.

The pics were originally exported as gifs from Photoshop with transparent backgrounds and then imported in Ilustrator. In order to fix the problem I later tried making clip masks arround them, I had 2 gifs in there, on one it worked, on the other it did not, though the clips were good.

Then I tried importing not gifs, but psd, then eps, I also tried the export transparent images in photoshop. Nothing worked.
Both the images and the original pdf I imported into were CMYK. I tried all the things posted above, none of them worked. I also tried to save in illustrator as .ai, import in indesign, export as pdf. Or just import the pdf in indesign and export it again.

Please help. I'm desperate.

 

[Innova]

Also I'm curious as to why I get so big differences in filesize. From what I see, if I save it right back from Illustrator, or I make it form Acrobat, I get a 15Mb pdf. If I import and then export from Indesign, I get a 2Mb pdf.

Please, any help is very appreciated. The client wants me to guarantee that this problem won't appear when professional printed. Is it normal for the pdf to appear ok on screen, then different on print? I'm new to designing for print, so I need all the help I can get.