Film grain

Open Film grain from the toolbar's third group. The panel replaces the color wheel. Press Esc or click ✕ to return to the wheel.

Grain varies with the photo's tones, with controls for its distribution, texture, and color. The grain pattern stays aligned with the image when you pan, crop, or export.

Choose a starting point

1. Choose a character. The four presets suggest different film speeds: Fine (100), Classic (400), Bold (1600), and Pushed (3200).

2. Choose a response. This controls where grain appears across the tonal range:

   • Print — the default. Grain is strongest in the midtones and fades toward black and white.
   • Negative — keeps grain visible further into the highlights.
   • Custom — lets you shape the response curve yourself.

3. Adjust Intensity and Size. Intensity controls the strength of the grain; Size controls how large it appears. Set Intensity to 0 to remove grain.

Check grain at 100%

The loupe at the top of the panel always shows the image at 100%. Drag inside it to inspect different areas.

Grain becomes less visible when the photo is zoomed out. Use the loupe to judge its size and texture, then check the full photo to see how it fits the image.

Advanced controls

Expand Advanced to adjust the response curve and grain texture.

Response curve

The curve controls grain strength across the tonal range, from shadows to highlights. Raise a section to increase grain in those tones or lower it to reduce grain.

The preview behind the curve shows live grain across a lightness gradient.

Texture and color

• Roughness controls how coarse the grain clumps appear.
• Chroma adjusts the grain from monochrome to fully colored.
• Red size, Green size, and Blue size adjust the grain size for each color channel independently.

On the B&W tab, grain is monochrome and the color controls are hidden.

Preview without grain

Click the eye icon in the panel header to hide grain in the preview. Click again to restore it.

Unlike the other panels' preview controls, this is a toggle rather than a press-and-hold control. Grain stays hidden until you turn it back on or open another photo.

Hiding grain only affects the preview. Exports still include it. To remove grain from the edit and export, set Intensity to 0.

Save grain in a recipe

Select Film grain when saving a recipe to include its settings with the look.