(PSD) Sergiy

Good Job Nikie! Very well done!

clueless

Wow. Thanks for all the help everybody. I've got plenty of ideas to try now.

Erik

Open a copy of your pic on a new layer.
Then go to the Channels palette, select and copy the blue channel to the clipboard (Ctrl A, then Ctrl C)
Activate the composite channel back again, and in the layers palette, with the copy layer active, add a mask.
Alt-click on the mask thumbnail to activate and Ctrl V to paste the channel in the mask.
Now apply levels and curves to the pic (not the mask).
This way, you can lighten the lights without losing the darks of the pic.

Use liquify for the eyes, and the clone stamp tool for the wrinkles.
If you want to use the blur tool, do it with a small brush on a copy that is too large, then reduce back. Blur makes you lose texture.