Making a contact sheet is an easy way to memorize some design principles. All you need to do is create a series of images, add some text, and then print out the contact sheet!
The trick is to combine these one images into groups of several images. This process is called compositing!
Using this method, you can create fun and creative contact sheets! Some examples of composited sheets are pictures of your home, pictures of your favorite things, pictures of locations, etc.
Contents:
Select all images
When making a contact sheet, it is important to select all the images you want to add to the sheet. Selecting all of the images in your homework assignment will make it easier to organize and manage your sheet.
To make a contact sheet in Photoshop, select Create New from the File menu. Then, choose Image orPhoto and give your new image a name.
Now that you have your new photo, you can start adding text or shapes to it! To add a border or texture, choose Add Texture from the Type menu. To change the size of your text, choose Change Text Size from the Tools menu.
Go to File > Scripts > Statistics
Now, you need to create a new script called contactSheet. In this script, you will add your contact names and add a time limit. You can also set the number of updates per hour in the settings.
Once you have done that, open your document and insert some paper. Then, take some contour lines and draw a circle with them. Now, take some indigo lines and draw a line through the circle to make a grid. Now, take some white contour lines and draw another circle with them to make a second grid.
Take some more brown contour lines and draw another circle to create a third grid.
Change the X value to the number of images you have
When making a contact sheet, it is important to know how many images you have. The number of images you have can be affected by how you layout your images.
Some image layouts require fewer images to show detail in. A classic example of this is a horizontal line of photos that are aligned with each other vertically.
In this case, there is no guarantee that the last photo will be the most detailed in the set. As a result, this layout typically has a higher X value.
The rule of thumb here is that the higher the number, the lower the X value. This is due to self-consciously putting more photos on your computer!
As mentioned before, the number of pictures you have can effect how many times you want to make a selection for your contact sheet.
Click Run
Now, click the green Run button at the bottom of the screen. This will run your image through Photoshop and create a new document that contains your image on one side and a blank space on the other.
Make sure that you have your camera resolution set to either desktop or window mode to make this easy!
Now, pick a colour scheme to work with and add some patterns to make your sheet pop. Once you do, you are ready to go!
Now that your image is in Photoshop, it is time to add some effects. First, open up a new file and create some shapes or stamps using the colour you used for your design. Then, drop them onto your picture and stir them up! These will give your design some shape and texture.
Next, take a black background and add some shapes or stamps using the colour for your background. Then, drop these pictures onto your new black backdrop.
Group all of your images by pressing Cmd + G
Now, you want to group your images by what color they are, so let’s start with that. Press Cmd + G to display the menu.
The first option is Group By, which will group your images by either color or style. The second option is Group By Similar Color, which will group your images by color and/or theme.
The last two options are Group By Similar Features, which will group your images by anything that makes them similar such as size, shape, or placement.
Now that we have those down, let’s make our contact sheets! First off, I chose a white sheet to start with and added a few shades of gray to break up the surface of the sheet. Then, I chose Design Systems: Contact Sheet as our design system.
As my example image shows, I grouped my pictures by theme and paired them all with a white sheet.
Go to File > Scripts > Make Contact Sheet…
Once open, type in your text and then press simulate to make it look like a contact sheet. Once done, you can edit and preview your text and bullet point content!
Now, let’s look at some tips for making a great contact sheet.
Tip 1: Make Your Text Short
Most of the time, your contact sheets should be around one to two sentences long. A few extra seconds can make all the difference in how your text looks on the sheet.
Tip 2: Make Your Photos Longer
Some of your content should be short enough but not so short that it doesn’t get lost or Psychiatric Exclusion Syndrome (PESS) is not felt. You want some length to give context to what you are saying so it gets understood.
Check the box for Use portrait or landscape orientation
When making a contact sheet, you can choose whether to make the layout portrait or landscape. This affects the way your images are stacked on each other.
If your image is in a landscape orientation, then your images will be arranged on top of one another in a reverse-downward order. If your image is in a portrait orientation, then the images will be arranged on top of one another in a forward-upward order.
This article will discuss how to make a contact sheet in Photoshop.
Choose how you want your image displayed (e.g. stacked, one per row, one per column, etc.)
When making contact sheets, it is important to pick how your images are displayed. In a row-based image display, the first image in the sheet is always the top image. The second and lower images are located on the next row, and so on.
In a column-based image display, the first column is always the top column, the next columns are found on the bottom of the sheet and are followed by an upper column. This may not matter if making a printed or digital copy of your sheet!
By having different display formats, you can create different effects or ways to hide or reveal images within your sheet.