Digital BW, The Print

Hi,
this is what I do for a grainy look:
1. Add new (blank) layer
2. Add 50% Grey fill, Overlay blending Mode
2. Add Gaussian Noise at level 4 - 8
3. Add Gaussian Blur at .3px 
4. Adjust the levels of this layer to accentuate the grain - end points: 50/205
5. Adjust the opacity.

This doesn't seem to add grain to the deep shadows, so if you want that, you might want to copy the pixel-bearing layer and add the noise & blur to that and then make a luminance selection and invert it, copying the selection to a new layer (ctrl-j) to add grain to the deep shadows.

It works well in my opinion,
Richard

At 08:22 a.m. Wednesday 4/02/2009, you wrote:

>lenzzman44 wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> I was at the Epson Print Academy last weekend, and Greg Gorman (he
>> seems to like the L channel for conversion on portraits) said he
>> sometimes uses high ISO capture because the attendant noise somewhat
>> mimicks film grain for "that look".
>
>I've done exactly that with my Canon 20D several times.
>
>However, I'm still partial to real silver-grain, which is why I'm
>subscribed to pure-silver, coolscan8000-9000 and DigitalBW :-)

--
www.richardsmallfield.com 

   "What is life?  It is the flash of a firefly in the night.  It is the breath
   of a buffalo in the wintertime.  It is the little shadow which runs 
   across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."
   --Crowfoot, Blackfoot warior and orator, 1890 - last words.