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Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes

Contact Sheet

A print made by laying an entire strip or roll of negatives directly on paper, showing every frame at negative size.

In depth

The contact sheet is the editing tool of film photography: it shows the whole take in sequence, revealing how a photographer worked toward a picture. Marked up with a grease pencil, it becomes a document of the editing decision itself, which is why the contact sheets of famous photographers are studied as closely as the prints.

Examples in practice

A contact sheet shows six approaches to the same doorway, with the chosen frame ringed in red.