DIY Idea: Proof Sheets

In film photography, a proof sheet, or a contact sheet is a photo print of your film negatives, used to look at a whole shoot and decide which shots deserve enlarging and printing. Digital photography doesn’t rely on contact prints in the same way that film photography does (photographers are more likely to use galleries where viewers can scroll through larger-sized images), but the look of all those shots lined up has a style that is fun and cool and can make your practice sessions more enjoyable and productive. Most image-editing software has an option for creating and printing a proof sheet; you can use this while you are practicing or as a fun way to present a lot of shots from one section of the wedding, such as the bridal portraits. (See Figure 3.17.) I have a few framed proof sheets from vacations in my house; I love all the memories that so many small images give all at once, and it is always a conversation piece.

Figure 3.17 This contact sheet was made with a few simple commands in Adobe Bridge. Most image editors will allow you to select images, or a folder of images, and build a contact sheet without you having to place each image. The settings are customizable, so your contact sheet can be made to your specifications!