Joe, I would say not hanging with a fad does not mean you have missed the train.   As mentioned above, subtle changes can work wonders and be very pleasing.  I need to work more with masks and develop skills there and with various blending methods.

I have found the Smart Sharpen in Photoshop™ works well in small does and it is quite easy to avoid halo effects with it.  On some images, highpass run down to perhaps 28% or so opacity followed with Smart Sharpen works well,  just so the sharpen is not set to do too much.  I do no sharpening in camera. 
All comments are appreciated.      Tom.