There are many ways to add more detail to a photo. Today I’m going to show you one very popular, that can be done all just in Photoshop, without the need for any plugins at all. Of course if you have Color efex or Topaz adjust, you can use those, or any other plugin that gives similar effects. But let’s look at the Photoshop way.

This is a very easy process, so let’s get started.

1. Start by loading the photo you want to edit into Photoshop.
2. Then continue by duplicating the photo into a new layer. Just drag the background layer onto the new layer button (in the bottom right), or go under Layer/Duplicate layer. Select the new layer and change the blending mode to Vivid light.

 
3. Now still with the new layer selected, invert it. Either by hitting Ctrl+I or by going under Image/Adjustment/Invert. You will see a very grey image, but don’t worry :)
4. Next we need to apply Gaussian blur to this layer. So go under Filter/Blur/Gaussian blur and play with the radius, until you see the amount of detail you need. If you see too much halo around objects, try using a small smaller value. Hit OK to confirm.

 
5. Now we need to create a new layer, that contains all the onse we already have. Just hit Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E and it will be created for you. Select the new layer and change the blending mode to Soft light.
6. The last step we need to do, is delete the middle layer (the one set to Vivid light) as we don’t need it anymore, and it’s just in the way.

 
And thats all. I would suggest adding a mask onto the result, and just using it on the places you need it, not on the whole image. Feel free to ask if you have any questions to this :)