Another PP Workflow Variation...

[benjikan]

Another approach I use and am doing on the "Diva" story is this..

When the Raw image has been imported in to Camera Raw, I Sharpen at between 25-30 on the slider and 50 on Color Noise Reduction, Luminance Smoothing at Zero. Click OK.

When in Photoshop, go to Layers and make a Duplicate Layer. Now Desaturate the image. Go to the Layers Menu and click on Soft Light. Now, because you didn't use the Contrast Unsharp move, i.e. 10-15 percent at 40-60 pixels you can push the Opacity and Fill sliders much harder. 60 to 90 percent. When back in PS you can now push up your overall Saturation if so desired by +5 to +10 to compensate in the loss of Saturation produced by adding the B&W layer. I don't, I like that Desaturated look. It's a matter of taste..

Ben

You can compare it to other method that is posted at:
http://pentaxlife.com/benjamin-kanarek-post-processing-method#more-213