What are contact sheets, and how do I choose my images?
What Are Contact Sheets
Way back when, when we used film, the best way to see which photographs we wanted to enlarge and print was to see all our images laid out in one go. The whole film strip would be laid out in a block so that we could easily compare the shots. Nowadays we have digital darkrooms, but we still don’t want to spend our time retouching every shot when we’re only going to use five. Neither do we want to struggle to compare the images by flipping back and forth between pages. That’s why we create contact sheets: rows of thumbnails with numerical identifiers so we can easily pick our favourites.
Getting Technical
I prefer to only send my clients the images that have passed quality control. That means that any exposures where, for example, one of the lights didn’t fire, or the subject blinked, are taken out of the final selection. There may also be errors that can’t be seen in a thumbnail, like the focal point being ever so slightly off, and that type of image may get selected by my client so they cannot be in the list either. The images that are left are all compressed into .JPGs for the contact sheets, but remain as RAW files on my computer.
What Is A RAW File?
RAW files contain a lot of information, and allow for a lot of scope when it comes to retouching. Unfortunately they do tend to look pretty uninspiring and flat. That means that my clients have to trust the process, and select the images that they feel they look the best in, irrespective of how dull the image may otherwise appear.
RAW files are uncompressed data; they are not image files. What you see in the contact sheets are .JPGs of a narrow band of the information held in the RAWs. Shooting in RAW means that if part of an image is, for example, overexposed, it can be corrected. It can be corrected because the information for what the image would look like if it had been taken even three stops under/over that exposure point is held in the file. The typically isn’t an issue, but sometimes things happen like glare or shine on specific body parts like noses and foreheads.
These images therefore look washed out and sort of uninspiring, but don’t worry. All of that will get fixed in the final retouch after you’ve chosen the shots that you like the most. Making your images really sing is only possible because they’re taken in RAW.
What Gets Retouched On A Headshot?
With headshots it’s really important that you still look like you at the end of it. That’s why I never remove permanent features like scars or wrinkles. However, if you have a pimple or a bruise that decided to join us for the day, that’ll get removed. My basic rule is that if something won’t be there in six weeks’ time then it won’t make it into the final image.
My images straight out of the camera are always in 2:3, but headshots are 4:5 as industry standard. Therefore you should expect a small amount of cropping on your photographs so that they conform to the usual requirements.
You’ll see from the images below that the retouched image (on the right) has much more dynamism than the original. It’s brighter, warmer, and has much greater depth and contrast. The skin tone is more even, there’s no shine on the actress’ nose, the blocked pores are gone, and so is the tiny smattering of pimples on her chin. The tiny bit of mascara that decided to be on her skin has been removed, but all the things that make this girl her have been retained. There has been no change to her features, moles, fine lines, or general character. The final shot is her, but on a really good day.
Final Thoughts
Contact sheets are a way for clients to easily review and select their favourite photographs for retouching. Hopefully, now that you understand a little more about why we use contact sheets, why your images look the way they do, and what happens to them afterwards, you’ll find it easier to choose your own.
