Grain is groovy, I don’t know why it’s so much more soulful than digital noise, but for me it just is.
Some of you might recognise the Blackpool Glitter Ball as you walk south along the sea front from the South Pier.
I think this has ended up on the blog is because I like the leading lines leading to the ball on both sides of the picture and for a technical reason.
The technical reason is that in the darkroom Lith process colour is dependent on grain size amongst other things. The longer the print is in the developer the grain size increases gives a more vivid tone to the colours.
I have used three colours Pink, Gold and Yellow as Hue and Saturation adjustment layers in Photoshop. The solarized blue is a happy accident that is in-line with the darkroom process.
The grain in this picture was put in with SEP2. Having shot the picture at ISO 100 and taken any noise out in Lightroom before adding the grain in SEP2 via Photoshop. I used 400 ASA Tri X grain with un-amended grain density and hardness. The un-amended setting gave me the look I was after.
Quite often I use Tri X grain but lower the density by about a third and increase the hardness by about ten percent to give the picture a much grittier look as in the post South Bank Runner.
I regularly need to say a big hello to all the new followers of my little blog and a thank you for following my ramblings and I hope you find the experience beneficial.
(c) Andy Beel FRPS
Andy Beel FRPS 
Beautiful tonal transitions Andy, and everything in the composition takes you right to the ball.
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Hi thanks for the appreciation. Andy
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Very nice picture! Love the pale color.
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Hi Chelsea I took a long time to get the colour to look right so thanks for the appreciation . Andy
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Really like the lines in this and thanks for sharing your thinking about the processing.
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Hi Marianne I think the 50mm Lensbaby helped a bit to give the right perspective I have other shot taken along this walk but they don’t work as well as this one.
As with all processing it’s knowing what you want or are aim at in the first place that is important.
Thanks for your continuing support, its apprecited. Andy
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I love grain and you have used it beautifully here. Yes, ‘noise’ just doesn’t sounds like that…the name itself makes it seem like a nuisance already… 🙂
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Hi Jennifer I entirely agree, thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.
Andy
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That’s a cool abstract man. Interesting to read your process.
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Hi Aaron Thanks for your appreciation. I was giving a talk last night and as ususal had to explain that for me photography is about abstraction and interpretation, not necessailly what things look like – descriptive reality. Good that you dropped by and left a comment. Andy
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Thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting!
Great image here, love that blurred, nebulous feel you have achieved.
Cheers
Steve
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Hi Steve I’m glad you like it. Andy
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This image I can happily hang on my wall and NEVER get tired of looking at it, it certainly works for me 🙂 Lo-ove it!
We drove through Blackpool 2 yrs ago but being winter everything was closed, looked a bit sad.
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And yes Grain IS groovy!
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