Making a contact sheet

A contact sheet is a print of a whole roll at once, made by laying the negatives straight onto the paper. Each frame prints at its actual size, as a positive, so you can see every picture on the roll.

You do not have to make one. It is a simple first attempt at printing, because there is nothing to focus or frame. If the contact sheet comes out well, you know your exposure, chemistry and handling all work before you try an enlargement.

What you need

• Your negatives, cut into strips (see cutting and storing negatives)
• A sheet of 8x10 in (20.3 x 25.4 cm) black & white paper
• A clean sheet of glass, or a contact printing frame, to press the negatives flat
• An enlarger, used here only as a light source
• Trays of developer, stop bath and fixer, as for any black & white print

Making the sheet

1. Raise the enlarger head until the light covers an area bigger than your paper. Set the contrast to grade 2 and stop the lens down two stops.
2. Under the safelight, put the paper on the baseboard with the emulsion side up. It is the shinier side, and the side the paper curls towards.
3. Lay the negative strips on the paper with their duller side down, so they touch the emulsion.
4. Cover them with the glass so every strip lies flat.
5. Make a test strip first to find the time, then expose the whole sheet.
6. Develop, stop, fix and wash it like any other print.

Reading the sheet

Look through the frames with a magnifier and mark the ones you want to enlarge. If every frame looks too dark or too light, but the edge markings print strongly, the problem was the exposure in camera. See reading your first negatives.

Keep the sheet with the negatives. It is the quickest way to find a frame again later.