How to read a contact sheet
Thirty-six small arguments, one grease pencil. The edit is the craft nobody photographs.
A contact sheet is a record of decisions made at speed. Read it left to right and you can watch a photographer notice something, chase it, lose it, and get it back two frames later. The keepers are rarely where the shooting was loudest.
The select is not the best frame. It is the frame that survives being looked at twice.
Work with a loupe, not a thumb. Enlargement flatters; the loupe interrogates. At contact size, gesture and geometry are all you can see — which is convenient, because gesture and geometry are all that matter.
Circle in grease pencil, never ink. A select is a claim, and claims get revised. The sheets in our directory work the same way: hover long enough and you will start disagreeing with our circles. Good. Book the photographer and make your own.