Reducing sharpening on a particular face in a picture

There are several ways. You can use the local adjustment brush in Camera raw and reduce the texture slider to reduce the sharpening of part of an image (center example). Another method is to use the highpass sharpening method: make a duplicate layer, set the blend mode to overlay, then apply the highpass filter to sharpen the image, THEN invert the layer. This will soften the image rather than sharpen it. You can then apply a layer mask to apply the softening to part of an image (right example)

Hi

To clarify: are you about to add sharpening and want to reduce it in one area? If so:

1. First, create a Smart Object
2. Then apply the sharpening filter (non-destructive)
3. Note the mask in the layers panel and confirm it is selected
4. Choose your Brush “B” > and set the size (and check the other options in the options bar)
5. Type D to set your colors to the default B&W.
6. Paint with Black on the face area on the mask and White if you go too far. Type X to switch between B&W

Jane