Portrait #2 & layers trick

The second portrait was much easier and just needed a few things done. 

Here is one thing I like to do that makes life easier when working with layers: learning the shortcut for combining all visible layers into a new layer.  

Let's say I have a layer in which I want to blur the skin.  I make a copy of the main image, blur the skin, then reduce the opacity to 20%. Then I want to darken the eyelashes.  I can't do that on the 20% opacity layer.  And I can't do it on the layer underneath, because I want to be able to control the opacity of the eyelashes layer as well. 

So I make a layer that combines the main image and the 20% blur layer.  That way I have a new 100% opacity layer to work with.  There is no place on the menu to find this, you just have to memorize the shortcut:  Command, Option, Shift, E.
So:

• Command E:  merge down or merge group
• Command, Shift E:  merge visible
• Command, Option, Shift, E:  merge visible into new layer.

When you look at your history panel, you'll see that it actually calls this "Stamp Visible."

Here are the before and after.  Not much of a change, but still enhanced:

before

 

after