Smile, it's digital!

MR. PARIS FROM Poes Garden is planning a visit to Singapore. The Consulate has strict guidelines for the shape and size of the photograph he has to produce for his visa. Desperate, he walks into the Konica Lab outlet on Nungambakkam High Road and makes his request. "No problem", says the one of the front office staff and takes him to the studio.

He poses in front of the digital camera. The image is transferred to a computer, the programmer makes the adjustments to satisfy the specifications, passes it on to the printer and in five minutes, Mr. Paris' handsome face is in 40 neatly trimmed colour photographs!

Welcome to the world of digital printing. Digital cameras in consonance with computer software and digital printing machines, have given the word 'reproduction' a whole new meaning.

"Digital printing is an emerging concept," says U.R.S. Sudharsaan, proprietor, Upadhyas Dgiprints, as he takes me around his new office on Royapettah High Road. "There are only a few who do this in the city. Finding no such facility in Mylapore, I set up this unit three months ago". His office combines digital printing with facilities for business development.

"Speed and quality are the twin advantages of digital printing," he says in his soft voice. We are standing in his bright studio with a variety of electronic gizmos. Two white umbrellas and a camera (no black cloth) mounted on a tripod stand ready for action.

"You bring in the product to be advertised and we take over. We photograph it, give it a suitable background, add the text, and print it on glossy A4 paper - all in a few hours. You cannot hope to get it done so fast with conventional photography and offset printing."

"Imagine a medical representative trying to push a new medicine to a busy doctor. With just basic information, Dgiprints can prepare attractive visual aids on laminated sheets of paper and spiral-bind it to give it a desk calendar look.

Fifteen multi-coloured prints of ad copy for the product can be made in just a day. All the doctor has to do is to flip over the sheets to get the data he needs about the new pill." The set he shows me certainly bears his claim.

"Or take the work of an architect. He makes a rough sketch of the project and brings it to us. We convert it into a proper design and present him with a high-resolution shot. And he will get it before he can say 'vastu'."

Prem Kumar of Swastik Xerox in North Usman Road, can enlarge this design in his 'Jumbo Xerox' and give you a print-out in photochromatic paper. His 3,300 sq.ft. work area looks like a factory with an impressive array of humming, clicking and beeping systems. Huge machines disgorge large, glossy replicas.

He is one of the pioneers in this technology in the city and one of the first to own a digital laser printing machine. "Give me a 3x3 mug shot and I can blow it up to a 36" x 36" with excellent clarity," he announces. He can do custom-made designing in all the languages.

Ajit Kumar, the development manager of Konica, explains the process. A digital camera stores the images in its memory. A computer downloads it and transfers it to the printer. In a continuous tone, the molecules are transferred to the laminated paper. A chemical reaction produces the dyes on the surface to bring you a clear picture.

Entering Konica's plush lab-cum-office in Nungambakkam is like entering a futuristic console of a space station. Huge, breathtaking, backlit photographs proclaim Konica's no. I status in photography and photographic equipment in the city.

"Flexibility is the key word in digital photography," says Ajit Kumar. "Actually it is difficult to go wrong with a digital camera. If you do, you can check the image and reshoot or adjust the size, background and colour balance.

The choices are limited only by your imagination. Colour monitor previewing, daylight enlarging and wide-format printing are unbeatable advantages. Combine this with quick delivery and excellent pricing and you know why digital photography is becoming a rage."

Then there is the facility of retrieval. Zip disks and CDRs make excellent photo archives more convenient to handle and store than rubber-banded envelopes and bulky scrapbook albums.

Kumaresan, a digital engineer at Konica, adds, "The prime advantage is of course restoration. Do you want to restore grandma's faded sepia picture and make her come 'alive'? Re-do a damaged album? Revive a moth-eaten microfilm? Saunter into our studio."

"Take that old portrait of yourself. You can shoot it again with a digital camera, erase the grim studio background, give it one that you prefer, add colour, add somebody's picture and you have a wonderful snapshot! Is your college-going son too busy to come to the studio for his mug shot? Just get his recent photograph, and leave the rest to us. The one you have is stamped? We can remove the marks and give you a high-resolution likeness! Want your favourite neta in the glossy, looking younger? Get the reflection on a silver surface or a shadow in the picture wiped out? Done!"

"Is it expensive?"

Sudharsaan shows his brochure. "You will not want more than 25 of these. An offset printer will entertain only bulk orders and charge you to the tune of Rs 10,000. We will furnish the required number of copies for less than Rs 1,000.

The same goes for elegant menu, visiting, invitation, ID and greeting cards, personalised calendars, party invites, catalogues, danglers, leaflets, ad displays, in fact anything you want can be printed quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively."

I ask the obvious question. "Isn't there a danger of exposures being manipulated?"

Mr. Sampath Kumar of Konica smiles. "There is. But I don't think any one will misuse the medium.

"What next?"

"We already do automatic slide processing. Once the fibre-optic cables are in place, we will give each customer an ID so that he can send the photo by e-mail with specifications. He needs to come here only to pick up the prints."

Favour yourself with a laminated, aesthetically done portrait you'll be proud to own. And very fast too.

GEETA PADMANABHAN

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