Why is grain important

Grain is an important consideration for the following four reasons:

  1. Grain can set practical or esthetic limits to the degree of enlargement of a photographic print or projection of a transparency.
     

  2. Grain can limit the amount of visual information (detail) produced in an image.
     

  3. Like audio noise that distorts music, grain can stand in the way of viewer's perceptions of the visual message.
     

  4. As maligned as grain is, it can be desirable and esthetically pleasing.
     

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