Topic: Grain Screen

[MrclSchprs]

Hello!

Back in the hayday of film photography Paterson used to sell grain screens. They do popup at eBay quite often. Most of the times with a heavy price tag. Now I was wondering ... with a photo printer it should be possible to print your own. I would like to create a digital negative to use as an overlay to enhance or simulate film grain. Has anybody ever done this before? Or does anybody know a web resource as a starting point?

Thanks!

Marcel

[Francois]

I remember seeing in one of the books in my library a how to create your own using a fine grain film and shooting various textures.
I can't actually remember perfectly but the process involved either underexposing the film or under developing it.

To simulate some film grain, you might get away using a picture of some concrete or something like that.

Why not just use the alien skin exposure plugin? This thing does exactly that, simulate various film stocks.
Or you could do it with an action script by adding noise to a layer and setting the transparency level fairly low.

[MrclSchprs]

Or you could do it with an action script by adding noise to a layer and setting the transparency level fairly low.

Well I'm not so sure about that action script ... a black pencil on white paper will do the trick I guess. And as an added bonus that script is readable in a dark room under red light.

[jharr]

The problem with a noise layer is that it is too uniform. Grain is heavier in shadows and lighter in highlights. There are plugins that will do it using noise, but I never really found one that was satisfying. So I just shoot really expired film. Push it if you want more grain. Let digital do what it does best and let film do the film stuff (like grain).

[Francois]

It could be done using a few layers that affect either the dark or the light parts of the image independently.
But for me, I don't really care going through that trouble most of the time.

I found this in one of my books. I know there are other ways to do it by playing with development. I can go look for it if you want to.

[jojonas~]

reminds me that I have two or three sheets of graphic patterns. dots and circles maybe? apparently you lay them over your print when you expose the paper, if I've understood them correct.

[MrclSchprs]

I found this in one of my books. I know there are other ways to do it by playing with development. I can go look for it if you want to.

Thanks! If you even come across the development tricks, please let me know. But this is a good starter!

[Francois]

No problem there. As soon as I find them I'll post some copies of the text.

[Bryan]

I have a very old transparency sheet that you use to add texture to a photo.  I think it's placed over the paper when you make an enlargement.  If your interested I can dig it up next weekend when I'm home, it's very unlikely I'll ever use it.  It looks much older than the Patterson one above. 

[MrclSchprs]

If your interested I can dig it up next weekend when I'm home, it's very unlikely I'll ever use it.

That's a nice offer! Yes, I'm interested. I'll send you a PM.