digital retouching of grainy old images

[Chilidog]

I recently obtained a number of old glass plate negatives from the early 20th century.

I can scan them in on my Epson v750 at a resolution smaller than the grain.

my question is one of aesthetics,

I am currently going over each image, an using the spot healing tool painstakingly repairing and "fixing" this defects in the image. By defects, I men the actual damage to the emulsion, scratches, dust spots, etc.

My question is regarding the grain. Some images have very pronounced grain. It is possible to smooth these area out using one of various methods available in cs5.

Is it desirable to do so? to some degree, the charm in the image is the grain and the texture that it imparts to the image. On the other hand, excessive grain can be distracting.

As a general rule, what is your feeling regarding grain in old images?

[Frank Petronio]

You really have to test using the output method and media. What looks grainy on-screen can be quite a bit smoother printed out.

Sometimes how you scan, especially if you are making larger moves to the curves or levels, will bring out excessive grain. You might make sure you aren't adding grain by trying to radically lighten the shadows for instance.

But from your description it sounds like you shouldn't try to reduce the grain that is native to the image itself.

As a general practice, I retouch dust and defects at 100% magnification, only going closer-in around fussy, critical edges and transitions.

[Chilidog]

My approach so far has been to focus on the obvious defects with the spot healer and to "zap" any bits of grain that stand out significantly from the background.

I like the way it looks, and I am not opposed to grain per se. In some of the images, it definably adds to the charm.

Thanks, I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that I am on the right path. If it looks good to me, that's what matter, right?

[Donald Miller]

One of the things that you can do with evenly toned areas that evidence unwanted grain is to make a selection of the evenly toned area and add a small amount of gaussian blur.