Photo of Cecilia - C&C welcome

This was just a quick shot in our living room yesterday. Pretty much out of focus but I really liked the expression on her face so I just went with it. Any tips on sharpening it up a bit besides retaking? C&C welcome.

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congratulations. lovely expression, happy looking baby.

focus on the eyes, don't crop the cheek

I agree. Get those eyes in focus and avoid cutting face parts out.
You could try some USM. I'll do it if you turn on IMAGE EDITING OK in your profile

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you for the feedback and the welcome. I knew the cheek crop would be an issue. Ah well.

I just turned image editing ok on. Would it be helpful if I posted the original?

Besides UnSharp Mask , there is another way to give an apparent boost in sharpness. With what I'm going to tell you, as well as Unsharp Mask, always add a layer mask in hide all and paint in the sharpness with a white brush where needed only ... as in eyes, lips, teeth, and such.

Open your image and dupe the layer. On the dupe layer, click Filter > Other > High Pass. (try it at default level) Click OK. Now click at the top of the layers palette and drop down the menu for blend modes. Click on Overlay and look how much more apparent sharpness you have. Add a layer mask as I said above and paint in the sharpness where needed. Good luck.

Here's my try at pp this great shot. The crop might not be ideal, but I think this is still a keeper. I post processed using PS7. I started by making a duplicate layer, then I did a little USM. Then I made a 2nd duplicate layer of the original and laid it over the USM layer. Adjusted the layer opacity a little, then masked, and erased out the eyes, mouth, nose, and ear details. Not sure if this is the best way to have sharpened the photo, but I think it works.

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D. Craig Flory wrote in post #2248016
Besides UnSharp Mask , there is another way to give an apparent boost in sharpness. With what I'm going to tell you, as well as Unsharp Mask, always add a layer mask in hide all and paint in the sharpness with a white brush where needed only ... as in eyes, lips, teeth, and such.

Open your image and dupe the layer. On the dupe layer, click Filter > Other > High Pass. (try it at default level) Click OK. Now click at the top of the layers palette and drop down the menu for blend modes. Click on Overlay and look how much more apparent sharpness you have. Add a layer mask as I said above and paint in the sharpness where needed. Good luck.

As a matter of fact, that's just about what I did in my reply below. Your explaination seems pretty clear cut.

Here's a go:

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