Roberto Costa Pinto,
Thanks for the compliment. Sure appreciate it.
As for the selective sharpening, there is really nothing to it (it just seems like a lot after doing all the layer sharpening stuff).
I'll give the instructions in a second, but let me first say that what we are going to do is apply the sharpening from Paul's technique using a LAYER MASK. If you are familiar with layer masks, this will make perfect sense. If you have not worked with layer masks, it might not be a bad idea to read the HELP topic in PhotoSHop on layer masks. They are a very powerful tool ~ not just for slective sharpening, but also for selective ANYTHING: levels, curves, color, B&W, etc.
Instructions:
Follow Paul's sharpening technique all the way, but do not flatten the layers. At this point in the workflow, you should have three layers: the background layer, the "lighten" layer and the "darken" layer. Go ahead and make the adjustments using the sliders to determine the exact amount of each your image needs. Now for my variation.
Make a duplicate layer from the background layer. Now you should have 4 layers: background, background copy, lighten, darken.
Turn the "eye" off for the original background layer. The "eye" will be ON for the other three layers. Now do a Layers ----> MERGE VISIBLE.
What will happen is the top three layers will be merged into one layer. Now you have two layers: the MERGED layer and the BACKGROUND layer.
Now turn the "eye" on for the BACKGROUND layer. Working on the MERGED layer, turn the "eye" off and on alternatively and you can see the effect of your sharpening. Neat huh? Leave the "eye" on.
Now add a layer mask to the MERGED layer. Layer ---> Add Layer Mask -->
Hide All. (notice on the layer's palette a layer mask has been added and it is black).
Now set the foreground color to white and begin to paint with the white paint brush. Notice that the area that you paint white will show through. Continue to paint all the areas that you want sharpened. When all of the areas you want sharpened have been painted, you are finished. Now flatten the layers and save.
Some tips: sometimes it is difficult to see exactly what you have painted in and what has not been painted. In mid-task, you can turn the "eye" off on the BACKGROUND layer to see exactly what you have painted!
Another Tip: If you accidently painted an area and you now wish to remove this area, all you have to do is swap your color swatches to select black and paint over this area with the black paint. This is the REAL strength of doing layer masks: you have infinite control over adding and taking away.
Another Tip: Where you want a partial effect, you can reduce the "amount" of the brush! Select 25%, 50% whatever.
Hopefully I've not forgotten anything. Give this a try and let me know if you have any problems.
Cheers,
jim
--
Shoot more, ***** less!
galleries at:
http://www.pbase.com/sandman3 
