When photographer Ken Howie approached Woods Lithographics to print his "Nitrous Oxide of Digital Photography" poster, the Phoenix-based printer relished "the unique opportunity to reproduce a digital image of that large size, direct to plate," says Chuck Timmerman, manager of special projects for Woods, a division of the Nationwide Graphics/Premier Print Organization. "We said, 'Let's see what we can do.'"

Howie's 28'18" poster features a custom-built orange motorcycle, with tasteful blue and black detailing, and a monstrous 115-cubic-inch engine. Built for the open road, the cycle boasts 240 horsepower plus a nitrous booster.

Howie, a pioneer in digital photography, shot the chopper using his copyrighted MultiChip technique, in which a still-life subject is photographed in sections, with the final, exquisitely detailed image being digitally assembled. Although his poster was a crowd pleaser, Howie thought the pairing of Woods Lithographics, with its UltraDot 600 digital printing system, and his MultiChip technique "could be a perfect marriage."

Howie developed the MultiChip technique six years ago for projects that demanded fine detail. In the case of the motorcycle, Howie photographed the bike in six sections using a Scitex digital camera, and created a final image using Scitex and Photoshop software.

For Woods Lithographics, the project's biggest challenge was manipulating Howie's digital file. It employed a Macintosh G4 computer and Photoshop 7 software to give the digital file a heavy dose of color saturation.

Woods' UltraDot 600 system prints at a 600-line screen, supplying from 650,000 to one million dots per square inch of image, depending on the saturation level. "In the end," says Timmerman, "we put so much ink on the sheet that it makes the bike look almost three-dimensional."

With its 28'40" Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 sheetfed press, Woods printed 1,000 copies of the poster using the four-color process, with a match silver and gloss aqueous coating. It used specially formulated inks from Quality Inks, based in Phoenix.

Woods selected Sappi Fine Paper's McCoy Silk Cover 100-lb. paper for the job. "On a project like this," says Timmerman of the poster job, "the paper has to be extraordinary."

Howie uses the poster as a promotional piece for his MultiChip technique, and distributes it to design firms, advertising agencies, and in-house designers. "The response has been very positive," he says.

Woods entered the poster in several graphic arts competitions, and won an impressive number of awards, including a best-of-category Benny in the Printing Industries of America 2003 Premier Print Awards, and a gold award in the Sappi Fine Paper North America 2003 Printer of the Year competition.

Moreover, the poster has widespread appeal. "We regularly receive phone calls from people who've seen Ken's poster, and want one," says Timmerman. "They see it hanging in someone's office, and they call us."

Art buyers may request a copy by visiting kenhowie.com/sappi.html.