"Try making a duplicate copy of the background layer and change the blending mode to Luminosity. Then amount 145, radius 0.3, threshold 4 and see how you go.
The Luminosity mode does not affect colour or contrast as much as in Normal mode and allows for a more aggressive sharpening before halos show around the edges." - Peter Ryan
Thank you for the tip Peter. It took me a while to figure out what you meant because I know very little about the modes part about layers, but once I had it, it is definitely sharper. Maybe not a prize winner yet, but I have been having such trouble with all my shots because you just can not get a shot outdoors this time of year without a tangle of brush in it.
BTW: The over sharpening artifacts are from previously butchering the image. What I wanted to know was how to do it properly. There are a couple of images I am going to go back to now.
A nicely executed example of this sort of image Peter
You may want to 'edit post' to give it your title instead of running on from mine; you may need to go to 'advanced' to do that
Shot with a D3100, 18-55 kit lens at 55mm f/5.6
I've recently upgraded to a DSLR from a point and shoot. I really like being able to control depth of field to give a sense of depth to a shot. Still haven't got the hang of choosing the right aperture without trial and error though. And I need to work on my titles!
- Paul