contact sheets in digital photography
I’ve been taking many more photos than I usually do when I go out. It’s been so cold that I can’t stay still for long, I need to keep moving. There’s not much time to think about the composition when the wind chill is well below freezing.
Later at home, ideally sipping a warm tea, I go through all those images. I save the best 1-2 of the bunch, and maybe keep another couple from a different angle just in case I change my mind in the future. Every other photo, though, gets deleted right there. I don’t really need to keep 30 shots of the same tree.
Instead of deleting them right away, I decided to start doing something with them: old school contact sheets. An essential tool back in the film era, contact sheets still hold a lot of value in the age of digital photography. A set of images show the thought process behind the final image, and they can even tell a better story.
Watch my latest video from Michigan City to see some of the contact sheets I made there.
Want to create your own contact sheets? I have an older video showing how to create them in Photoshop.
new images
new videos
Join Rachel and me as we walk through the Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Indiana, on a beautiful, snowy day.
We talked about this in last week’s newsletter. Photography is sometimes a lonesome activity, but does it feel lonely?
Some contact sheets from a day in Michigan City, Indiana. It was the coldest I’ve been this winter so far, but the images were worth it. I think.
I broke my camera
Accidents happen.
In the last few months, I used my camera from the top of Mt Timpanogos in Utah. It survived windstorms in the Rockies, the mosquitoes of the Great Salt Lake, heavy rain on the Washington Coast, backpacking trips in Mt Hood, sandstorms in Death Valley, and snowstorms in the Midwest.
Accidents happen, when you expect them the least. Yesterday, while taking some silly test shots on the balcony, I dropped my camera on the floor. It was a pretty bad fall. Half of the buttons don’t work, and the sensor seems to be loose as it jumps when the stabilization kicks in. I’ve sent it in for repair, but it will all come down to the quote I get back from the shop. It might not be worth it.
This is why I shoot with relatively cheap cameras, because accidents happen. It’s still a good amount of cash, but much less than if I were using the latest and greatest.
Fortunately, I still have other cameras to shoot with while I wait. Photography must, and will go on :)
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you all have a great week,
Adrian
Even
If we feel Lonely
we can stay
in Contact Sheets...!