Help with making part of a picture transparent

Question

I am very new to Indesign, and I am trying to teach myself how to use it. I was using Microsoft Publisher for my last project, in which I was able to use a transparency tool to click on part of a .gif image to make it transparent, whilst leaving the rest of the image intact.
I am trying to place an image on top of a background image using Indesign. My image is a picture of a sun, surrounded with a white box. When I place the sun on top of the background colour, I still get the white box around the sun, and I can't find any way of eliminating the white box, whilst retaining the yellow sun image. I hope this makes sense!
Can anyone help with his? I will need to do this quite a few times during the course of my project so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks. Bev

Answer 1

Jeremy bowmangraphics wrote:
Eugene,
Is it fair to make the sweeping statement that "GIF is not a print format"?
I don't know how “fair” the statement is, but it’s balls accurate. GIFs are RGB, limited to 256 colours only, and have only one bit of transparency. The format is absolutely inappropriate for print.
I can think of a few situations in which GIFs are useful for print as well as the web. For example, GIFs allow nonprofessionals to use logos with solid blocks of color, simple transparency, without color management concerns, and so on, both on the web and in almost all print applications that nonprofessionals use.
Automatic transmissions and power steering make it possible for a recent driver’s license recipient to take the family station wagon around Laguna Seca. That doesn’t make him Emerson Fitipaldi or make the car a Formula-1 racer.
Isn't it a cheap-and-cheerful, universal, perfectly OK format for print?
No.
It has limitations that are obvious to professionals, but it isn't always a mistake to use it in print.
It sure is. Print does not mean “printed to my $60 inkjet.” Print means “printed on a digital colour printer or on a press.” In that context, GIF’s only use is as a source for later conversion to a superior format. Even if printing to a POS inket, conversion to PSD, TIF, Illustrator, PDF, or even PNG would put the image into a superior format that is more suitable for print.
GIF is not suitable for print. Period.