Adding 'fake' film grain to images

[rossb]

<p>I went to the movies this afternoon and they had added grain to give the film a 70's look. The movie was "Milk". I will be interested to see if it recieves a nomination for editing or cinematography. I thought the grain was an excellent idea. In the movie they were taking pictures with a Nikon rangefinder. Apparently Harvey Milk owned a camera store in the real world before he was shot and killed.</p>

 

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Well I don't long for the good ol' days of film grain mucking up this kind of detail I could never get using a 35mm film camera:</p><div></div>

[mike dixon]

<blockquote>

<p>It seems to me Nick's point was questioning motives and their relationship to medium, a point worth considering.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>My initial point was that, even with film, many people use the medium in ways that don't necessarily play to its strengths. Their motivation is to create a particular look, not to demonstrate the "optimum" use of their media.</p>

[allardk]

<p>A reason nobody yet mentioned why someone might want to add noise to an image is that your brain very selectively filters the noise to see more information in the image then there really is. I was once at a research lab where they showed us images (text in large letters, actually) with parts completely blanked out. So much was blanked out that you could no longer read it. If the blank bits were filled with random noise, the text could be read. The same actually holds for audio (which was what they were actually researching at this particular lab). Although I don't know the details of what characteristics of noise are important to help your brain recover (imagine?) detail, I've heard many say that film grain is 'more pleasing to the eye' than digital noise.<br>

Of course none of this explains why someone would choose the grain of a particular film for this. That's more of an artistic choice. If the end result looks the same I don't really see a difference between someone picking a certain film because he/she likes the grain it gives (despite less grainy alternatives being available), or shooting digital and adding the grain later. I never add grain to my digital images so I can't really comment on whether those end results really look the same.</p>

[Norma Desmond]

<p>Yes, Mike, agreed. You and Nick were making different points. Both are interesting to consider. Thanks.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>It seems to me Nick's point was questioning motives and their relationship to medium, a point worth considering.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Why does it matter to someone what other people do? Why question their motives? Aren't they producing photos that look the way they want? Nobody here is telling Nick to validate what he does.</p>

<p>It's the same old effort to ridicule or put down what other people do. There's no call for it. There is no reason to question people's motives. A sincere request to understand the objectives of people's photography would be very different.</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>Why not save money and time and pull that old Film camera from out the closet.</p>

[Norma Desmond]

<p>"Why does it matter to someone what other people do? Why question their motives?"</p>

<p>It's how I've learned a lot about the world. Knowing the motives of Ansel Adams helps me put his photography in perspective. Generally, I don't particularly like landscape photography, but considering Adams's motives, goals, successes, etc., gives me a vast appreciation of his work and of him as a man. If I understand what's motivating someone, I can better appreciate what they've accomplished. When I critique, if I know that someone was trying, for example, to mimic a certain photographer's style, that information is helpful in my assessment of his photograph, regardless of whether I like it or not.</p>

<p>And, no, it is clearly the case that many people are NOT producing photos that look the way they want. One of the purposes of this site is for those who want to improve their ability to produce the photos they want to get help with that. Understanding what they and what others want, what motivates them and others, what their goals and the goals of others are could be crucial in a mature approach to teaching, critique, and communication.</p>

[jgredline]

<p>I guess I may as well jump in. To this day I shoot as much film, if not more than digital because I like the look of the grain. It is different that noise. I have purchased a few grain plugins for CS3 and to no avail. Now I have seen some really good Grain PP done although I can't do it. Grain is a beautiful thing when done in the right context.<br>

<img src="http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp128/jgredline/Film/c_hiking2.jpg" alt="" /><br>

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<img src="http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp128/jgredline/Film/SNOWEDITS3.jpg" alt="" /></p>