Advanced Sharpening for Portraits of Women

This is a more advanced technique for sharpening portraits of women that I learned (not surprisingly) from fashion photographer Kevin Ames. It does a great job of enabling you to create an overall feeling of sharpness, without emphasizing the texture of the skin. It takes a few extra steps, but the final effect is worth it.

Step One.
Open the portrait you want to sharpen without accentuating the skin texture.

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Step Two.
Duplicate the Background layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Control-J). ...

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