Hi there

Hope you can help me get into the right direction of achieving the look I would like to create for my pictures.
Like many I just love the style of http://www.ibarraphoto.com/  and www.nicolinepatricia.com

Next to trying to get the technical shooting part sorted out I also struggle with the photoshop part.

Things that I just cannot seem to get sorted out are:
- sharpness: what sharpener would you use to get this film look... and especially get ultimate sharpness in regards to only sharpening the edges but not the solid coloured spaces(sorry for the cryptic description, English is not native)? sometimes I sharpen and the rest like skin/clothes/background colours would get sharpened as well resulting in unflattering result.
Other way when I try to sharpen edges only like for instance with high pass... the lines/edges will get broadened and clumpy.
What I specially like in the filmlook pictures is that there is a very nice peculiar sharpness that somehow I cannot re-create in my pictures.

-colours... I'm not really sure in how far the colours/mood is determined by the light being used(solely natural light, continous light or...?) or photoshop but so far I have not been able to get really close to what I see in that style of pictures.
What I also get a lot is when processing the pictures in Photoshop more and more I get colour grain(while there is litle available in the original picture) and the edges/lines/eyes(pupils, lashes etc) get clumpy in regards to overflowing colours and sharpness deteriorating.

sorry for the very long read...  hope someone can give me some pointers!

Many thanks!