From my post two days ago Back to the glorious days of silver, it may seem like I don’t like film. That’s really not true at all. I really enjoy the way grain and contrast is drawn from a BW negative. Especially the smaller formats and high ISO films. What I don’t enjoy about it is the cost and hassle. I really hate those chemicals.

It is true that digital high ISO noise is very different that film grain, so in my pursuit for the film look and feel I have to use methods for removing digital noise and add film grain. The first step is done with Noise Ninja, the second with my just-acquired plugin from Power Retouche called “Film grain”. It is a very nice plugin that gives extensive control over the look and distribution of the grains. I’ve just given it a brief try, but I must say it behaves very well. One good thing about adding film grain after the noise reduction is that you can do more cleaning than usual. That plastic look will disappear anyway when the film grain is added.

I’m not trying to emulate any particular film. Unlike many photographers, I don’t have a religious affinity for any special brand. My goal is to create the texture that suits each photograph, and gives it a look I like. For this, the Power Retouche plugin is just the right tool.