Originally Posted by Donald 
yes, the duplicate layer - soft light is excellent technique.
I use it to contrast boost prior to black and white desaturation layer then photo filters for toning. With hundreds of trials I have found opacity 80% fill 40% to be flawless about 95% of the time.
I would emphasize your first line: for press or print. Sharpening is a difficult subject and different for on screen vs web-offset 4+ colour printing.
Sharing your techniques is excellent, helps to make sanity of the confusion that is Photoshop.
"Sharpening is a difficult subject and different for on screen vs web-offset 4+ colour printing"
Absolutely correct!