Adding natural film grain
Go to File and click on Open. Browse through to locate your picture and click OK. First create a new layer and work on it. This will save the original layer as it is in case you want to delete all the changes. In the layers palette, go to New layers icon at the bottom or you can go to Layer menu and click on new layer. Name the new layer with a different name.
Go to edit and click Fill or by pressing Shift + backspace. In the fill box, click on the Use drop down menu and select 50% grey and click OK.
The new layer (A) will be filled with 50% grey colour. Now, change the blending mode to Overlay. This will treat the 50% grey colour as transparent as you will see a new window beneath.
In CS3 version, go to Layer and click Smart objects and then click Convert to smart objects. The layer thumbnail view will show a small object inside to show it is a smart object.
Go to Filter and then select Noise. From here, select add noise.
When you are at the add noise menu, set the amount as 400% and distribution as uniform, then click Ok. In case your picture is a black and white one, then ensure that the monochromatic box is checked as this will give black and white noise. If otherwise, then leave it unchecked.
With CS3 version, the filter will be smart ones, so that you can edit the settings any time.
Now go to Filter and select blur and then choose Gaussian blur.
Here, you will have to adjust the radius to a value that you want and when done click OK. If the grain is very strong, then you can correct this by reducing the opacity of the new layer (A) at Layer’s palette.
In the CS3 version, double click on Gaussian blur smart filters and edit the settings.
Original Authors: Siva
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 23/04/2009
