Dust & Scratches for older skin?

[tropicmom]

With a portrait of an older woman who has very fine lines around the eyes, I duplicated the background layer, applied a D&S filter fairly strong, inverted a mask and painted it back only in the problem areas, then pulled the opacity of the layer down until it toned the wrinkles down just slightly. 

My question: Is there a disadvantage to using this method I should be aware of?

[Damien Symonds]

No, it sounds like an excellent approach to me.

[Damien Symonds]

Make sure, though, that you only apply the filter just as strongly as you need, and no stronger.  Applying the filter at the correct amount at 100% opacity gives different (and better) results than applying it overly strong at lower opacity.

[tropicmom]

Thank you! I will put your advice to good use  :-)