What is a sheet of many small photo frames called?

Asked 4/2/2017

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I found a single sheet containing many small individual photos from the same event. I think it may be related to film photography or possibly a sequence of images taken quickly. What is this kind of sheet called, and what was it used for?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

9y ago

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It sounds to me that what you are describing is what we call a contact sheet or a proof sheet. It's called that because in the film days, it was made by physically placing the negatives on the print paper (in contact with it, that is) rather than projecting through an enlarger. These contact sheets were used to select which pictures on a roll of film merited further work, without wasting time and materials.

The example you have might be from a video, but it might also be from a series of pictures taken in quick sequence, perhaps using a motor drive. Searching for "bob marley contact sheet" turns up a number of examples from photographers Allan Ballard, David Burnett, Richard Aaron, and others. For example:

enter image description here

While we don't make them this way in the digital realm, the terminology lives on — you'll find "contact sheet" options in Lightroom and other software.

Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1943

9y ago

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This is most likely called a contact sheet (also known as a proof sheet).

In film photography, a contact sheet was made by placing the film negatives directly onto photographic paper and exposing it, producing a page of small images from the whole roll. Photographers used these sheets to review all the frames and choose which photos were worth enlarging or printing.

If the images are all from the same event or show slight changes between frames, they may simply be a quick sequence shot on film, possibly with a motor drive. Even though digital photographers don’t usually make them the old way, the term contact sheet is still commonly used.

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9y ago

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