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MarieMeyer
Inspiring
July 30, 2017
Answered

Photos with white backgrounds

  • July 30, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 1668 views

This might be more of a Photoshop question than an InDesign question. However, I want to ask here it, because I think I will get a reply from someone with more experience of print production.

I am preparing a document for CMYK. It has a number of photos with white backgrounds, placed as JPEGs. I want to ensure that the white of the photo = paper white. Is proper color management alone sufficient to make this happen? Or is it necessary to replace the white background of the photo with transparency in Photoshop?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer MW Design

    Paper color in ID does not equate to transparency in an image.

    If these images have a truly white background and are not on the top of anything that uses color, you are good to go. (White, except with special printing conditions and an actual white ink, does not print.)

    If these images are sitting on anything that uses color other than white, then you would need to remove the white from any such image in PS and then import the PSD file to retain that transparency.

    Mike

    2 replies

    Stephen Marsh
    Community Expert
    Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 30, 2017

    It of course depends on the catalogue and image, however for many catalogue “product shot” images that “have a white background” it can be better to have a minimum highlight dot of say 3-5% for any large white areas in the image, leaving 0% for “specular” whites, chrome reflections, light sources etc. This provides a natural “border” around the catalogue image, which is helpful if the layout has a grid type layout. The image does not “disappear” off into the page. However if there are frames/borders around the images, then they are obviously “self contained”.

    MW Design
    MW DesignCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    July 30, 2017

    Paper color in ID does not equate to transparency in an image.

    If these images have a truly white background and are not on the top of anything that uses color, you are good to go. (White, except with special printing conditions and an actual white ink, does not print.)

    If these images are sitting on anything that uses color other than white, then you would need to remove the white from any such image in PS and then import the PSD file to retain that transparency.

    Mike

      Bill Silbert
      Community Expert
      Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 30, 2017

      I agree with everything that Mike said above. I would just like to add that areas of solid color in Photoshop may look consistent to the eye but  different sections of those areas often will read with different CMYK breakdowns when sampled with the eyedropper. So I would say that to be really sure that your areas that are white appear so in the final printing I would make them transparent and save the files as .PSDs before importing them into InDesign.

        rob day
        Community Expert
        rob dayCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 30, 2017

        Thanks. This is a catalog and there are hundreds of them, so I really want to use JPEGS to keep the size of the ID file to a manageable level.


        Thanks. This is a catalog and there are hundreds of them, so I really want to use JPEGS to keep the size of the ID file to a manageable level.

        The format of the file you place doesn't affect the size of the InDesign document in any meaningful way. If you were to embed images saved with any format, the ID file size would grow relative to the embedded file sizes, which is  why it is usually better to link all placed assets.

        The only upside to using the JPEG format would be some saved disk space for the originals, which given today's storage costs has little or no value. When you place an image of any format, InDesign uses the placed pixels as they are and with JPEG the original image compression artifacts will be included. When you export the page, a JPEG would either be recompressed (adding additional compression artifacts to the original artifacts) or, if you choose no compression you will get a larger PDF file size and in both case the original compression is irrelevant.

        Also, with white backgrounds you have to watch out for JPEG artifacts creeping into white areas, which depending on the amount of compression could show up as random halftone dots on press. Bottom line is you should give up on JPEG.

        Here you can see random compression artifacts in the white background around the rasterized text. In a typical image the artifacts are not noticeable, but with pure white backgrounds they might show.

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