Wish List - Add Grain

[smadell]

I have four separate feature requests that I'd like to submit. I have created a separate post for each of them, and they are all posted here within the "Feature Requests & Feedback" section. I have included proposed Studio-type panels (or modifications of existing panels) in each of the posts.

2) A New Filter - Add Grain

A suggestion for an additional Filter. While the Add Noise… choice is nice, it tends to give a small and very uniform form of noise. This might be great for dealing with certain situations, but it's not a good substitute for adding Grain to a picture (to give a photo an old-time type of look). I suggest a separate Filter that deals with Adding Grain, providing sliders such as (i) Grain per pixel; and (ii) Soft vs Hard. This reasonably simple set of choices is present in the Nik Silver Efex plug-in, and gives me all the choices I think I might want.

[TehObLiVioUs]

Grain size seems like a good option as well, and is harder to manually.

Like, I found the manual way to do grain in "photoshop tutorials", but there doesn't seem to be a way to get "grain size" manually.

Like, to make grain manually
1.) new filter > fill > 50% grey (HSL, L is 50)
2.) noise > add noise (Gaussian & monochromatic) 
3.) blend mode: overlay (or soft light, also good)
4.) blur > Gaussian blur (0.2-0.8 px blur = makes noise turn into "grain", the secret ingredient) 

but then to get grain size, that's just scaling a raster image = pixels! (NOT GRAIN!)
so, doing it manually isn't perfect I've found out. 

Edited May 7, 2020 by TehObLiVioUs

[Drix]

I just moved over from PS/LR, and this is the feature I miss the most so far. The 'Add Grain' feature in LR isn't perfect, but it helps a lot in working with both low quality source files and adds a nice touch of film grain to pictures with a very digital look as well. Is this on the roadmap? I've seen posts requesting this going back to 2014, so looks like it's been in the works for a while. 

[carl123]

Search the forum for "film grain"

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/128457-add-film-grain-free-macros/&tab=comments#comment-705430

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/27627-grain-effect-using-equation-filter/

[smadell]

Try this...

 

[Drix]

Thank to both of you, and yes I did a search and found the 2nd article of these, but both are great.

I still would love this to be an official feature though, as this is something a good photography app should have IMHO!

[Jowday]

These types of grain from Capture One Pro are superb - the generic noise/grain in many programs look artificial or dull. Other programs like DxO Film Pack offer even more realistic film grain. 

Adding simulated grain in external programs is - to me - worth the hassle.

It would be nice to have other types of grain (film noise) in Photo and Designer. It can add a lot to even vector drawings. I would love more types of noise - also film grain - in the colour panel.