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Enhancing mid-tone contrast with unsharp mask
This is quite an easy technique to enhance the contrast of an image without blowing out (over-exposing) the highlights
and it sure is effective.
When you open your photograph in Photoshop duplicate the background layer so that you will not harm your original image.
Then go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask
and a following dialog box appears.
The parametres that you need to input vary depending on the resolution of the image
and the desired results. Start with zeroing Threshold value (0)
Then set Radius somewhere between 40-65 and slowly start adding amount.
You shouldn't go higher than 20 but if you haven't yet achieved the effect you wanted,
repeat the process. After clicking OK if you think that you overdid it, you can select Edit - Fade
and dial it down until you like it, or then just reduce the opacity of your new layer.
This is the final result that I achieved with those values shown above.
The whole method is somewhat like the clarity slider in Lightroom and ACR,
but gives you much more control without producing unwanted artifacts and halos.