Photo shop

When Animesh Jain, 26, was working as a software engineer with an IT solutions company in Delhi and wanted to send photographs to his mother in Bangalore, he was in a fix.

A photo printing website does more than just print photos. It also customises merchandise

When Animesh Jain, 26, was working as a software engineer with an IT solutions company in Delhi and wanted to send photographs to his mother in Bangalore, he was in a fix. Getting the photographs printed in bulk would cost him a packet. He realised this must be a problem for many people. So, after a bit of brainstorming, this IIT Delhi graduate found a solution. He got a couple of his batchmates together and set up itasveer.com, a website where one can place orders for digital prints and get them delivered home. 8220;I wanted to send hard copies of some photographs to my mother in Bangalore and the photo studios were charging exorbitantly. Add to it the additional cost of sending them by courier and I was already counting my change,8221; says Jain, who quit his job a year ago to set up the website. A team of seven IIT Delhi graduates is involved in the process of constantly developing and improving the software on the website.

The website delivers digital quality photos anywhere in India in less than 24 hours with a follow-up system to ensure the photos reach the customer on time. All one needs to do is log on to the site and create an account, which ensures your privacy giving you a user name and password. One can then proceed to the 8220;add photos8221; option that allows you to queue up the photos for printing. You can choose from the various sizes on offer and also customise the photograph by getting a picture caption printed on it. Their software, 8216;doodle pad8217;, allows the user to take the photo and presentation format to make it as attractive as they want. For instance, one can customise a table calendar by placing the photo interestingly, changing the theme, using vibrant colours with different designs for each month of the year. Though this might come at an extra cost, Jain says it is worth it. 8220;One would ordinarily buy a calendar for a couple of hundred rupees. But we give you the option of personalising your merchandise and making it much more special,8221; he explains.

The charges for customisation fall between Rs 85 and Rs 1,000 and one can choose from mugs, calendars, cards, collages and mouse pads. The site plans to work on customised photo books next.

In the two years of its existence, the website has registered over 25,000 members. 8220;We do not print the photographs at our office. We simply outsource them to a Mumbai photo studio that we have contracted for this purpose. Our servers instantly relay the customer8217;s demand and within a short span of time, the snaps are dispatched to the desired address. We only follow up with the customer after a few days,8221; says Ankit Khanna, co-founder of the site. The cost of printing a 4215;6 photograph is Rs 2.90 with additional shipping charges. This site is useful for people with bulk orders since the packaging charges are in various slots with the minimum being Rs 50 for a set of 35 photographs of 4215;6 size.

With other photo printing sites coming about, the techies are aware of the competition and are constantly upgrading their services. 8220;We will soon start sending parcels abroad once we get the logistics sorted out,8221; says Khanna.