Yes, sorry, I'm here. Was out for the afternoon and evening.
Sounds like I'm doing it right for the cutout. I use a colored background and select, turn it off, then save a PSD and use that in the INDD file.
Thank you for information about CMYK. I'll check it out. I've never thought into more than that for the color and haven't had the printer come back or had issues that I know of about print quality. I know this client will use Staples or a similar printer, not a professional printing company.
After your concerns about photo quality, I looked into getting a better quality photo (this one is 72ppi) and it looks like I can before tomorrow when things go to the client. Phew!
Thanks so much for your attention to this and help!