This is a little trick I use to give portraits a nudge.

Many times a perfectly good photo will end up looking just a little bit better - especially if it is a shot of a lady.*

1) Duplicate the layer**;
2) Measure*** the distance from the eyes to the tip of the nose (see attachment);
3) Divide the distance by six (doesn't have to be exact);
4) Do a Guassian blur with this radius;
5) Divide the eye-nose distance by two (doesn't have to be exact);
6) High-Pass filter, on the same layer with this radius;
7) Set blending to Soft Light (probably) and tweak opacity to taste.

May not look much different - but turn the layer off and you'll see how the portrait got...well...rounder?

The attached action is part of the 10 minute Toolbox (http://www.retouchpro.com/resources/fileinfo.php?id=40).

*No, that is not a sexist comment, guys won't usually thank you for smoothing their face out!
** actually I use only luminosity, doesn't make much difference here;
** press <I> and you get the eye-dropper, now press <Shift><I> twice and you get the ruler

Hope you found this useful

Rô

Hi Ro,

Neat little tip, thanks for sharing this.

The difference is subtle, but it's there.

Paris

Thanks again, byRo. That helps.

That's what I call 'Expertise' :bow:
Thanks ByRO...