>>3175298- Smart sharpen is a filter that comes with Photoshop that sharpens in a clean way. I recommend very low radius, high amount for the best results.
- healing brush is generally hard to use because when you get near edges, it doesn't work right. If you use it on the high frequency layer though, it's like super-power healing brush you can use places you normally couldn't.
- If you split the image properly, the top layer (high frequency) contains all the fine details. If you place a layer underneath that layer, you can paint underneath the detail. Normally if you paint on an image it'll cover up all the fine detail. With frequency separation, you can still paint on the skin while preserving detail.
The way I developed a strong understanding of Photoshop is with
Lynda.com. I'm sure all the stuff there you can dig up in different places online, but it's super convenient having such a massive amount of info organized cleanly and taught by professional instructors.. If you go through a set of Photoshop tutorials on Lynda, it'll give you a strong foundation where you'll be able to start looking for advanced techniques (like frequency separation) on industry forums and be able to understand what they're talking about with ease..
Good luck!
