We live in a digital world, where we in most cases deliver our files to our clients as a digital medium. The contact sheet is left over from the film days however it is still a vital delivery method. Depending on the client and how many photos were taken I sometimes opt to send a contact sheet. This makes it easier for everyone to view and select the appropriate photos.

Since getting Lightroom 4 the other day, I’ve had to send a few contact sheets so I thought I would give a quick walkthrough on how to create a contact sheet in Lightroom 4.

Step 1. The setup

It’s actually pretty easy. We need to select the files that we want to display in the Contact Sheet. So navigate to the collection or folder with the files and either Ctrl + A on Windows or Cmd + A on Apple, to select all the files. The other option is to hold down Shift and click the images you want.

Step 2. The template

Once you have your images selected click on the Print module.

In the left hand sidebar under the “Template Browser” title there are a couple of Contact Sheet templates or you can make your own.

Step 3. Exporting

There are various options including watermarking however they are pretty self explanatory. They can all be found in the right hand side sidebar. If you scroll to the bottom of that sidebar you will see the “Print Job” panel. In most cases we are still delivering the contact sheet as a digital file. You’ll need to change the “Print to” value from Printer to JPEG file. Set your resolution and quality and press the “Print to File” button at the bottom.

Depending on how many images you have selected it will start to export them out.  You’ll end up with individual jpg files for each page of the contact sheet.  That’s it your done. Hope this helps a few of you.