Here are the before and after for what I've done so far. I concentrated on getting the face looking good as that is what people look at first.
(http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s634/mgilb999/HenleyR14_06_5_5x7_7_75_zps8e80e715.jpg)
(http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s634/mgilb999/HenleyR14_06_5_5x7_7_75_Final_zpsae33eab7.jpg)
Mike, to best help you we need to be able to see your actual images rather than just the links in your forum post. This may help:
http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,1837.msg18759.html#msg18759 (http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,1837.msg18759.html#msg18759)
Pat
(http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s634/mgilb999/HenleyR14_06_5_5x7_7_75_zps8e80e715.jpg) (http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/mgilb999/media/HenleyR14_06_5_5x7_7_75_zps8e80e715.jpg.html)
(http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s634/mgilb999/HenleyR14_06_5_5x7_7_75_Final_zpsae33eab7.jpg) (http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/mgilb999/media/HenleyR14_06_5_5x7_7_75_Final_zpsae33eab7.jpg.html)
Thanks for the suggestion of using a screen and multiply layers with masking. Ive added that and now I will repost the final version for critique.
Latest version of image.
(http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s634/mgilb999/HenleyR14_06_5_5x7_7_75_Final_zpsae33eab7.jpg) (http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/mgilb999/media/HenleyR14_06_5_5x7_7_75_Final_zpsae33eab7.jpg.html)
Beautiful job MikeG. The only thing I would be tempted to do would be the shadows on her face on your left so that there is less definition between shadows and highlights, especially under her eye.
This is a quickie where I took yours and added a new layer to soft light and checked the box for 50% neutral gray. On that layer I took a soft brush--starting at about 30% opacity (in bar above in brush pnl) and with background white I started trying to smooth things out. When I wanted to darken, I hit "X" and changed my background to black and darken. Since it is a layer above you are free to change at will.
(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z10/hayesbucket/HenleyR14_06_zpscbea1fe7.jpg) (http://s192.photobucket.com/user/hayesbucket/media/HenleyR14_06_zpscbea1fe7.jpg.html)
Again, very nice on a very old photo.
Margie
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll apply it. Your example softens the shadows and gives a much better appearance. These old photos, I'm guessing this one of from the 1930's or maybe the 20's, are fun to work on. The lenses of those days are softer but give great portraits.
Mike