Film Grain Emulation done right!

The default film grain in Lightroom is pretty terrible. It doesn't accurately take into account how real film grain behaves and it can look like a bad overlay if its not correctly applied. The All In One Grain Presets are here to change that and take you film emulation to the next level

Film grain emulation should take into account the luminosity values in the photo. And the All in One Grain Presets do this by applying 3 luminosity masks to the photo with finely turned grain settings to match the image its applied to. They add more grain in the midtones and highlights, and less grain in the shadows, to mimic real film more accurately. And that's not all, the presets are also mimic the detail loss and dropoff in the shadows, will help you will take that digital edge off your modern digital photos to give them a timeless look.

The All In One Grain Lightroom preset comes in 6 flavors: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200, named after the iso values of film, so you will have a rough idea of what to expect even before clicking on them. No matter if you prefer a subtle grain or one where the particles are more pronounced, there is an option that will help you get the look that you want. But keep in mind they are reference values, so don't be afraid to use high ISO.

If you just want to get better and more realistic-looking grain in one click, that's it; you don't need to know much more. Have fun using the presets and don't forget to leave a review! But if you want to learn about film grain emulation, keep reading:

Film Grain Emulation 101:

On film, images are composed of the same particles that create the film grain! And this means a few things for great film emulation:

• Film Grain can't be an overlay on top of the photo
• The Film Grain should be the smallest visible detail
• Film Grain should be more pronounced in the highlights and midtones and less pronounced in shadows
• Bigger ISO film means bigger grain
• Bigger grain means less detail
• Different films have different grain signatures so don't be afraid to experiment

Bonus: because of the way crystal halides wash out in the development process, on negative film, there should also be less data in the darker areas of the photos than in the brighter ones.

If you also want to learn more about film grain emulation, you can read more in my blog articles on the topic: https://vmoldo.com/blog/

How to use:

The All in One Grain presets are created as a one-click solution.

But if you want to adjust its strength, you can always do it with the Size and Roughness sliders. You can find the effects panel of Lightroom/ ACR. Keep in mind this won't affect the reduction in sharpness, so if you started with 1600 and realize you want finer grain, it's better to switch to something like the All in One Grain 400 preset to keep the film emualtion consistent.

The presets also support the amount slider, so you can tone down the effect slightly right after you apply the All-in-One Grain presets

What to expect from V3 of the preset pack:

• Grain that looks a lot more realistic than just adjusting grain with the usual sliders in LR
• Six different presets with suggestive names for 6 levels of grain
• The Lightroom Presets are all comprised of 3 luminosity-based masks that are finely tuned for realistic results
• They all add a 4'th mask to reduce the grain at the ends of the spectrum for a more natural feeling grain
• These masks will also reduce the image sharpness to reflect the density of actual film grain
• Cleaner blacks than in the previous version of the All in One Grain presets
• The masks will change their name if you switch from one preset to another
• A Preset that rests the Grain so you can always send your photos to PS or just get a clean export with one click

WARNING: Your Lightroom Version has to be able to create luminosity-based masking that supports grain sliders for these presets to work.

Purchase of these Lightroom presets and Camera profiles grants the buyer a personal, non-transferable, and non-exclusive license to use the presets. This license strictly prohibits resale, redistribution, or sharing of the presets in their original or any modified form, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

INSTALLATION:

Copy the .xmp files to the specific folder:

Windows: C:Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\Settings

macOS: User Library>Application Support>Adobe>CameraRaw> Settings

You can make as many subfolders and organize the files. Lightroom will load everything in the preset folders.

WARNING: Your Lightroom Version has to be somewhat recent. This won't work with versions of Lightroom that do not have a curve panel inside their masks.

How to add presets to Lightroom: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/kb/faq-install-presets-profiles.html

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