I am attempting to convert a file created in Illustrator 10 to PDF. 
The file contains text and graphics created within Illustrator, as
well as a couple of .jpeg stock photos that I purchased and copied
into Illustrator.  When I use the "Save as PDF" in Illustrator,
everything looks great in the PDF file except that the photos have a
very thin white border around a couple sides of the photos.  This is
not desirable since the photos are on top of a gray-to-white gradient
color.  I have tried cropping the photos in Paint Shop Pro (I don't
have a copy of Photoshop), as well as ensuring that the photos'
background color is transparent.  But, nothing has worked.

The other option I've tried is saving the .ai Illustrator file into
another format and then converting the file to PDF using Adobe's
website (I have a $10/month subscription).  Interestingly, the white
border problem on the photos disappear, but the text is blurry.  I've
tried this method by converting first to .jpeg, TIFF and eps - all
with the same results.  I've also increased the resolution when saving
files.  The only thing I get is larger file sizes, with very little or
no improvement in the text quality.

How do I get everything right in the PDF conversion?  The best
solution would be if I could solve the photo white border problem when
using "Save as PDF" in Illustrator 10.  The remainder of the file
looks great and the file size is reasonable (saving at 72 dpi).  Note
that this will be a PDF file for viewing on the web, so it is not
necessary that resolution be any better than 72 dpi, but the text must
be clear and the white border around the photo must be eliminated.  I
suspect that this problem can be solved by manipulating the photo or
some other settings in Illustrator, but I am a fairly novice
Illustrator user.

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Request for Question Clarification by aceresearcher-ga on 19 Jul 2004 09:39 PDT

poolshark,

Is this .ai file something that you could post to the web for a short
time? If so, I'd be willing to take a look at it and try some things
on it.

If this will work for you, please post the URL of the file here.

Regards,

aceresearcher

When you save an Illustrator file as a PDF, transparent areas of
rasterized objects (i.e. photos) need a clipping mask in order for the
transparent area not to fill in with white in the creation of the PDF.

This is easy to solve if you rasterize the object within Illustrator
-- just click on the clipping mask checkbox in the rasterize options
step.

You can still create a clipping mask easuly for raster objects
imported into Illustrator. See "Creating and Releasing Clipping Masks"
in the Adobe Illustrator Help within the program.