Short answer: grain is the size of the light-sensitive crystals, so it depends on the format; halation is light scattering back through the film around bright points; leaks, dust and frames are accidents and artefacts of the camera and the lab. In Halation each has its own strength control.
Grain
Film records light in tiny crystals, and the picture is built from them. Larger crystals catch more light and give a coarser grain; a bigger piece of film shows less of it when enlarged to the same size. That is why grain is sized to the format: 8 mm is coarse, 35 mm is fine.
Halation offers four grain stocks — Standard, 8 mm, 16 mm and 35 mm. As a rule: finer grain for portraits and landscapes, coarser grain when the subject is low light, motion or mood.
Halation
The app's name is also an effect. In a bright scene, some light passes through the film's emulsion, reflects off the layer behind it and returns, exposing the emulsion a second time just outside the highlight. The result is a soft glow around bright points, often reddish-orange because that is the layer that bleeds most.
It is best on night shots with point lights — streetlamps, shop signs, candles — and it is rarely helpful on a bright, evenly lit day. The glow is drawn by the shader rather than baked into a colour cube, because it depends on blurring the picture at a radius tied to its size.
Dust, scratches and age
Three wear textures: dust, scratches and aged. They imitate what a roll collects from handling, lab processing and years in a drawer. Use them lightly: wear that is noticed at first glance is usually too much.
Light leaks
A leak is light that reached the film where it should not have, usually through a worn camera back. Halation's three leaks — edge, corner and band — place a warm wash where each would fall. They suit portraits and travel pictures, and work best at low strength.
Frames
Nine frames reproduce the shape of a format, not just its border: 35 mm, Super 8, 16 mm, 6×6, Instant, Half, Scope, Contact and Pano. A square frame changes composition; a Scope frame turns a phone picture into a widescreen still.
| Effect | Physical cause | Best on |
|---|---|---|
| Grain | Crystal size, by format | Almost anything, finer for portraits |
| Halation | Light bouncing back through the film | Night, point lights |
| Dust & scratches | Handling and processing | Archive or nostalgic looks |
| Light leaks | Light entering the camera body | Portraits, travel |
| Frames | The format's real image area | Composition choices |
Every layer has its own strength, so nothing is all-or-nothing. The usual mistake is stacking every effect at full: pick one or two and leave the rest at zero. Colour comes first — see what a film look is.
Texture that matches the stock
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