Contact Sheet Marking

[Newt_on_Swings]

So do you mark your contact sheets? With what medium? What color?

Grease pencil/china marker? Crayon? Sharpie? Pencil? Or dont make a contact sheet?

This intrigued me as I watched the Contacts Vol. 1-3 documentary series which I loved. Many of the great photographers marked them with all sorts of crazy colors, from whites to reds, to greens, etc. Some didnt make them, but almost all did.

It was pretty awesome seeing a bit of their thinking preserved while marking them, a half mark there, a streak, an arrow, a partial box, and the final selected negative to print circled or boxed out with an abundant amount of lines and squiggles around them.

I personally don't mark my contact sheets, as I dont make many, opting for a digital one since I scan as well as print, but I might soon. I found that a silver sharpie marker works great, and is highly visible in the darkroom, as well in plain light, but is not erasable.

What do you use, and do you have a specific system of colors?

 

[sage]

I just got some red grease pencils, but I think I'll need a different color to use for the color contact sheets. Mainly to just keep track of what images I want to print out of the bunch, and whats been printed and in a box some place.

 

[brucemuir]

I examine the negs on a light box.
Only way in my mind to judge critical sharpness.
I use an old screwmount pentax 50mm for a loupe.
Then I'll mark my choices directly on the printfile sleeve with sharpie.
This way the marks show up on the contact sheet.

I also note date/location, EI, developer concentration and time/temp on the printfile margins.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

I forgot to mention I was using post-it colored marking tabs on my print file plastic sheets. They come in various colors and sizes, and I just plop on ontop of a promising negative. they remove easily too.

I might be ordering a box of grease pencils too, as they are only ~$5 a dozen.

 

[canuhead]

yellow or blue. box around the entire frame or with crops if needed

 

[Leigh B]

The term 'contact sheet' has various meanings. For an 8x10 negative it's a single image.

I usually use grease pencils in light colors (white, red, yellow, sometimes green) to identify frames on 35mm and 6x6 sheets.

Sometimes I make notations on the PrintFile sleeves with a Sharpie beforehand so they show up on the c/s.

- Leigh