Okay, so today I’m gonna walk you through my little adventure trying to recreate that awesome “petra granada” effect. You know, that grainy, textured look that’s kinda vintage and cool? Yeah, that’s the one.
First things first, I fired up Photoshop. Gotta have the right tools, right? I started with a plain old image – nothing fancy. Just a shot I took of my cat being a loaf.
Then, I duplicated the layer. Always good to have a backup in case things go south. On the duplicated layer, I went up to Filter, then Noise, and hit “Add Noise.” I cranked the amount up pretty high, maybe around 30-40%, and made sure it was set to “Gaussian” and “Monochromatic.” This is where the grain starts to show up.
Next, I added a Levels adjustment layer. This is where the magic really happens. I started playing with the sliders, dragging the black slider to the right to darken the shadows and the white slider to the left to brighten the highlights. The goal is to increase the contrast and make the grain more pronounced.
Now, the grain was a bit too harsh, so I applied a subtle blur. I went to Filter, then Blur, and chose “Gaussian Blur.” Just a tiny bit, like 0.5 to 1 pixel, to soften the edges of the grain.
To get that vintage feel, I played with the colors. I added a Color Lookup adjustment layer and experimented with different LUTs (lookup tables). I found one that gave it a slightly faded, warm tone. You can also use a Photo Filter adjustment layer for a similar effect.
Sometimes, the grain can be too uniform. To break it up a bit, I added a layer mask to the noisy layer. I then used a soft brush with low opacity to paint on the mask, selectively hiding some of the grain in certain areas. This makes it look more natural and less like a filter.
Finally, I flattened the image and saved it. And boom! Petra Granada effect achieved. It took a bit of tweaking and experimenting, but I’m pretty happy with the result.
Here are some tips I picked up along the way:
- Don’t overdo the noise. Too much and it just looks like a bad photo.
- Experiment with different blending modes for the noisy layer. “Overlay” or “Soft Light” can give you some interesting effects.
- Use a high-resolution image to start with. The effect looks better when the grain is finer.
That’s pretty much it! It’s a fun little technique to add some character to your photos. Give it a try and see what you come up with!
