Create Contact Sheets

Introduction

Create Contact Sheets is an Apple Automator action for photographers to create PDF contact sheets from a set of video, photo or image files. Seven different contact sheet layouts are available:

Contact Sheets - Creates simple contact sheets. For each image file, a thumbnail image and the filename is printed. This layout helps you to get an overview of your photographs. Example
Info - Prints the thumbnail image, the name and basic image information (description, keywords, aperture,...). If you want more information. You can compare different camera settings and the resulting photo. Example
Notes - Like Info, but also adds a rules field where handwritten notes can be added. Use this layout, if you want to add some notes to your photos and images. Example
Patch - Like Contact Sheets but more compact, without any padding between the images. Example
Fancy - Like Contact Sheets but with nicer layout and drop-shadows for the images. The elegant version of photo contact sheets. Example
Portfolio - An elegant style to create a portfolio from your images. This first page is the title page, followed by the portfolio pages. Example (5.3 MB)
Patch-X - Like Patches, but without the filename or any other text. Just your images as a big patch-work. Example (3.8 MB)

CCS is an action for Apples Automator application. It is not a standalone application. If you prefer a "classical" application, then please try Rod. If your not familiar with Automator, read the Apple application help for Automator.

A typical workflow for CCS should have the following actions:

Get the input. Either as specified list of image files, from iPhoto, from the current finder selection, or...[lots of possibilities]
Optional: process the input files. You may to scale the images to reduce the size of the contact sheet (CCS is not doing this to keep the quality), or you may apply some Photoshop filters or ... [lots of possibilities]. It is a very good idea to let Automator copy the files, and to process the copies instead of the originals. The Print Contact Sheet workflow below shows, how you can combine CCS with other Automator actions.
Create the contact sheet.

CCS also accepts video files. For video files, the poster image of the video or the image of the first frame is used by CCS in the contact sheet.

Tips and Tricks for Create Contact Sheets.

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Screenshots

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Workflows and Applications

Print Contact Sheet: a simple but usefull workflow that creates a contact sheet from the images that are currently selected in the Finder. Installation: Download and move the Print Contact Sheet workflow to the folder Library/Workflows/Application/Finder of your home directory. Then select some images in the Finder, open the context menu (ctrl click or right mouse button) and select from the Automator menu the Print Contact Sheet item.

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Requirements

Apple Macintosh OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or higher (Intel or PowerPC)

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Installation

Download CCS and open the installer. CCS will be installed in the directory /Library/Automator.
Starting CCS: CCS is an Automator action. Start Automator (in the Application directory) and select the Library Image Utilities or the Photos category. Drag the action Create contact sheets to your workflow.

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Download

Version	OS	Size
CCS 1.4.5	Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)	200 KB
CCS 1.4	Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)	185 KB
CCS 1.3	Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)	145 KB

Changes

Release 1.4.5 - Bug fixes and additional media support.
Release 1.4 - Leopard version. Video support. Localized German version.
Release 1.3 - New layouts: Portfolio and Patch-X
Release 1.2 - New layout: Fancy.