photography experts

okay I'm confused about something. a photographer has a package that is certain amount of money and for that you get
proofs: contact sheets
negatives

what are contact sheets exactly?

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Posted by marymoon

A contact sheet is a print made from contact witha negative, as opposed to an enlargement. You don't really need to know that, but a contact sheet is just a sheet where photogrpahers print the negatives all on one sheet (or more) to see which ones they would like t print. The photos on the contact sheet will be the exact same size as the negative. So if it's 35mm film you won';t be able to see anything, but if it's a medium format fi;m, it's a decent size, usually a little larger than a wallet size photo. usually when people get headshots done , etc, I've seen them get contact sheets for proofs rather than enlargements.

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so can I still use this to print my photos?
also he has another package where it says
proofs: prints
what does that mean?

you can't print from them, they are small 1 inch by 1 inch previews of your pictures all lined up on a page so that you to see all of them at once. from there, the photographer will make proofs, which are 4x6 prints of the pictures you choose from the contact sheets so that you can make sure you like them and want them blown up into high quality prints.

you ideally want all the photographer to give you all of these included in the package:

contact sheets
negatives
proofs
prints

A true contact sheet will NOT be 1X1 inch. By definition a contact sheet is the size of the negative. if your photogrpaher is using 1x1 fi;m, you're in trouble to begin with! LOL

You can't print from them, because they ARE prints. You can only print from the negative. (I mena theoretically you can bring any print to a photo place and they can make a begative nad print from it but that's expensive)

if the other package says Proofs:prints, then he means enlargements. This means instead of being the size of the negative your proofs will be larger, maybe 4x6 or a 5x5 square.

It's better in that your proofs will be larger and easier to see! I would ask what size the images on the contact sheet would be and what size the enlarged proof prints would be and see what the difference is and if it's worth the price difference if there is one.

I think the prints are better though. At largest the contact sheet will be wallet size, and that's not easy to view all of the details in group shots, etc, plus it's not as nice a size to put in an album if you want to save your proofs!

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Posted by marymoon

It's better in that your proofs will be larger and easier to see! I would ask what size the images on the contact sheet would be and what size the enlarged proof prints would be and see what the difference is and if it's worth the price difference if there is one.

I think the prints are better though. At largest the contact sheet will be wallet size, and that's not easy to view all of the details in group shots, etc, plus it's not as nice a size to put in an album if you want to save your proofs!

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thanks again for your help.

No prob. I love talking photo... almost as much as I love talking disney

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Posted by marymoon

No prob. I love talking photo... almost as much as I love talking disney

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have you considered becoming a photographer?