Here is an easy way to soften skin. It's only a few steps, and you can make it into an action if you plan to use it a lot.

• Open the image and duplicate the background layer (Ctrl-J (PC), Cmd-J (Mac.)

• Run a 10 pixel Gaussian Blur on the top image. (Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur. (You may want to increase 10 to a higher number if the image is high resolution.)

• Change the Opacity of the top layer to 4% and hit Enter or Return.

• Change the Opacity of the top layer to 40% and hit Enter or Return. Do this as two steps, NOT one Opacity change of 44%.

• (Optional Step.) With some images, an Unsharp Mask helps here. Filter->Sharpen->Unsharp Mask. If you use it try (18,50 & 0) as the three settings.

• Set the foreground color to black by hitting "D" (not case sensitive.)

• Put a Layer Mask on the top layer by clicking on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layer Pallet. It's the second icon from the left. (Looks like a white bulls eye on a gray background.)

• Select the Brush tool by hitting "B." Choose an appropriate size from the Brush menu and set the Opacity to 100%.

• Paint in black over features, such as eyes, lips, hair, etc. that you want to make sharp. This mask will allow the sharp original background image to show through from the bottom layer.

• If you make a mistake in painting the mask, hit "X" to eXchange the foreground and background colors. Then paint over the mistake with the newly created white brush.

This is really much easier to do than write about. Hope this helps.

George Burke