Adobe Photoshop CS6 Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks by Lynette Kent

SOFTEN THE SKIN naturally (continued)
To create the skin-softening filter, you combine two
separate Gaussian Blur layers into a layer group.
Layer groups not only make your Layers panel more
organized; you can use them to turn off the visibility
of multiple layers at once, and move or duplicate all
the layers in a group at once. You can also change
the opacity of a layer group, thereby altering the
opacity of every layer in the group. And you can add
a layer mask to a layer group to apply effects by
combining the attributes of all the layers in the group.
The settings you use depend on the subject in your
particular image and the overall dimensions of the
photograph. And depending on the image and how
much area you need to soften, you can either brush
the effect on the skin by painting with white on a
black layer mask, or by applying the filter to the
entire image, and then painting with black on a white
layer mask to reveal the areas that need to stay
sharp.
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$ Repeat step 13 for the other
blurred layer to balance the
effect.
Note: Alternate adjusting the
opacity of each of the two blurred
layers to create the correct amount
of softening. The filter can have
different opacities.
% Shift+click the two top layers to
select them both.
^ Click the panel menu
button ( ).
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& Click New Group from Layers.
* Type a name, such as Skin
Softening, for the layer group in
the dialog box that appears.
( Click OK.
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