Step by step
- Open the editor. Go to FilmGrainLab and drag a photo onto the window, or click to choose a file. JPG, PNG and WebP work, and so does anything else your browser can decode. The photo stays on your device.
- Set the ISO. One slider controls grain amount, particle size and roughness together. Start around ISO 400 and move up if you want it coarser. The ISO guide shows what each step looks like.
- Zoom in to judge it. Scroll or pinch to zoom toward the cursor and drag to pan. Zoomed views render real source pixels, so what you see is what the export will contain. Double-click to return to the full view.
- Try another pattern. Click New grain pattern for a different random arrangement of particles. The look stays the same, only the exact placement changes.
- Export. Click Export JPG to save a full-resolution file. If your photo had an embedded color profile such as Display P3 or Adobe RGB, the same profile is written back into the exported file.
Tips for grain that looks real
- Grain goes last. Finish cropping, resizing, sharpening and color work first. Resizing or sharpening after adding grain changes the particles and makes them look artificial.
- Judge at 100%, not at fit. A downscaled preview hides most of the grain structure. Zoom to 100% or more before you decide the amount is right.
- Do not overdo it. Real grain is strongest in the shadows and midtones and fades toward pure white. A setting that looks fine on a dark scene can feel heavy on a bright, clean sky, so check both areas.
- Use a sharp source. Grain adds texture, not detail. A soft or heavily denoised photo will still look soft with grain on top.
Why not just use an overlay?
Most grain filters place one static noise image over the photo at a fixed opacity. That looks the same in every tone and does not change with the size of your image. FilmGrainLab instead generates irregular, clustered particles for each photo and lets them respond to shadows and highlights. There is more on that in film grain vs digital noise.