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Grain (also known as noise), can be a result of several different conditions, including optical (and manual) zoom, and high speed film - and is more noticeable with blue sky, or sea. You can reduce grainy images with Adobe Photoshop CS, or third-party filters such as Alien Skin’s Image Doctor’s JPEG Removal Filter.
Removing grain from photographs is not a precise science. Undoubtedly, you will require considerable patience and lots of time. Additionally, individual photographs have different needs, and require different filters and settings.
Undo and Navigation Steps
Two ways of undoing steps are from the top menu, Edit then Step Backwards. Alternatively, click a previous snapshot in the History Palette.
Navigate (zoom in and pan) your image using the Navigator Palette,
or the Zoom Tool. 
Activate The Hand Tool by tapping the Spacebar, keeping the Spacebar pressed, pan your image in the usual way. 
Note
Removing noise from photographs entails applying some sort of smoothing filter, consequently blurring the image, to some degree. You are therefore looking for a balance between smoothing your image, and the image’s overall sharpness. There is no magic filter; therefore, work through various smoothing filters and find one that works for you.
Apply Grain
You can easily apply grain to images, by choosing Filter then Noise then Add Noise.
Tip
If noise is restricted to sky and water only, then surround the sky - or water, with a marquee, and apply a smoothing filter to just those areas. This leaves the rest of your image untouched.
This lesson demonstrates the steps I took to improve my image, and exact steps may not be appropriate for yours - therefore, experiment with Photoshop’s grain removal tools, and find what works best for you.
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Open a grainy image onto Photoshop’s workspace.
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Then from the top menu, choose Filter then choose Blur then Smart Blur. Tweak the Smart Blur settings to see what works best for your image.
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Alternatively, try another method. Undo the blur, then from the top menu, choose Filter then choose Noise then choose Despeckle. Despeckle is a one step filter and produced the following effect for my image.
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Another filter is Dust & Scratches. From the top menu, choose Filter then choose Dust & Scratches. Tweak the Radius and Threshold settings to see what works best.
The settings above produced the following effect - however, the larger the grain, the higher the Threshold needs to be.
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From the top menu, choose Filter then choose Noise then choose Median.
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Another useful tool is found from Filter then Stylise then Diffuse.
Now I have explained the best filters (that I can think of) for smoothing grain, experiment and see what works best for you.
Wendi E M Scarth. Top of Page - Home.
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