PNG Image Shows Background When Printed: How to Fix Transparency Issues in InDesign

[Sisehtnys]

When I put a PNG into my InDesign file, it looks like it has a clear background, but when it is printed it does not have a clear background. Instead it has a square shaded outline around the shape, with like a shade over it, on top of whatever is underneath. e.g. My PNG is sitting in a landscape position half over a red background and half of it over an image. The image itself within the PNG is fine, but out toward the edge of the rectangle shape it is not. When printed, over the red background, the background of the PNG is a lighter shade of red. Where it sits over an image, the background is like a deeper colour saturation. How do I fix this so the background of the PNG is transparent, as it should be? Any help is appreciated very much. It's been driving me crazy

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[James Gifford—NitroPress]

It's a transparency issue, but there are several causes. If you can post a screen snip showing the progression across the image and background, it would probably help guide things to the right answer.

PNG transparency can be faulty, as one starting point.

[Sisehtnys]

I can't do a screen grab as it only does it when it prints. The image has been exported from Photoshop (with a transparent background) as a PNG if that helps.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

What happens when you export it to PDF?

[Sisehtnys]

It looks perfectly fine

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

PDF is almost always exactly equivalent to printing, which is why it's so useful for diagnosing things. But if this is happening only when you print from ID to your printer, it's likely to be your printer driver.

What model printer are you using, and have you updated to a latest driver for it?

[BobLevine]

Is the red background a spot color?

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[Willi Adelberger]

Where does the original file come from?