One of my favorite techniques for fixing a bad photo is to go with the grain.

This is a BAD photo; it's dark and the background is distracting. When I lighten the image, the grain and noise intensifies.

The first thing I do is zoom in and crop. This gets rid of the floating arm and focuses the eye on the central subject--my daughter blowing out her birthday candles. Next, I reach for my favorite Photoshop actions, the Totally Rad Actions by Boutwell Studio. An action is a recording of a series of commands in Photoshop; it automates just about any task.

Instead of trying to reduce or eliminate the grain, I run with it by playing the Old Skool Totally Rad Action. In the end, I have a more focused, noisy, dramatic image with a vintage flair!

Here are a few of my favorite Old Skool photos.

If you'd like to try this technique without purchasing the Totally Rad Actions, I'd recommend this FREE Holga action. Here's a photo I processed using the Holga action from the Adobe Exchange.

Grace and Peace,

Emily Powers

Emily is a freelance artist and photographer from northeast Ohio. She is a 2009 Contributing Editor to Memory Makers Magazine. She's married to her high school sweetheart and has a three-year-old daughter and three furry children.