As part of my free Polachrome Photoshop action (see How To Get The Polachrome Look Using Photoshop) there was an Add Grain action. I’ve explained before that effectively simulating film grain in Photoshop is more than simply adding noise to the image. The correct way is to add varying amounts of noise after separating out the quarter tones because this is the way real film grain looks. Obviously the amounts of grain added depends on the film look you want to simulate - medium, fast, pushed etc. Well, the technical details are not so important as I have bundled up various Photoshop actions for simulating 400iso, 800iso, 3200iso and “Heavy Duty Grain” which you can download by clicking here.

You can see an example of the 800iso action in use here - you will see the effect is actually quite subtle but effective for when you want that film look as opposed to the smooth look of digital. The actions are also useful for smoothing out any slight posterization or digital artifacts.

I usually add grain right at the end of my image prep (after resizing and final sharpening for output). Of course you could run the actions before final sharpening but this makes the grain effect a little too “crunchy” looking for my taste - your mileage may vary, though. Just experiment to find the look you like.

Enjoy!

Add Grain Photoshop Actions