Every frame from a shoot, laid out small on one sheet, so the client can pick which ones go to retouch.
Where the name comes from
From film: the lab printed frames by contact on a single sheet. The same thing now arrives as a file or a gallery link, and the name has stayed.
What happens at this stage
It is decided which frames anyone else will see. Ten images go forward out of three hundred, and the choice is made by the client together with the photographer — the model is usually not part of it.
Which is why the right to pick frames for your own book is agreed in advance, before the shoot. The wording is simple: how many frames you receive and whether you choose them.
Why selection drags on
Because there are several approvers: photographer, stylist, brand manager, sometimes a lawyer. Each looks at their own part and each round takes days. A month between the shoot and finished images is normal, not a sign that you have been forgotten.
How the round is run — «Proof Galleries and Select Rounds: Choosing With the Client».
What not to do here
Publish frames from the contact sheet. They are drafts: unedited, not chosen by you, and often embargoed until the campaign runs. Posting early is the fastest way to fall out with a client and lose the repeat booking.
Asking to “just send everything” is equally unhelpful: a client has no obligation to hand over unselected material, and agreements rarely include it.
