I shoot in RAW normally, it takes more memory, but if I catch that "once in a lifetime shot" and I've blown the highlights slightly, it's nice to know I have some chance of recovering them to some degree, through the RECOVERY slider in Adobe Lightroom. So after shooting in RAW, I go to Lightroom and import the images onto my external drive, naming the shoot and adding MANY keywords. Making sure I'm in the LIBRARY MODULE, I then create a COLLECTION SET in Lightroom (hereafter referred to as LR, and Photoshop as PS), with the Name of the shoot, and then create a COLLECTION in that COLLECTION SET named (usually) PICKS. I then highlight the first image, hold the SHIFT key down and select the last image (automatically selecting all in between), and left click and drag the images from the PREVIOUS IMPORTS to my PICKS collection and drop them. You'll know when you done it correctly, because there will be a small little "stack of images" icon that you'll see before you release the mouse button, and the number of images in your "PICKS" will go from a quantity of "0" to however many images you've imported. I then double click on the first image and using the right arrow and the "X" on my keyboard, go through the images and flag the non-keepers with the REJECTED flag. I suggest doing this process a few times, closely scrutinizing the images you think worthy of keeping by single clicking on them to enlarge them, and making sure they're in focus, eyes are open, no missing limbs, etc...after I'm satisfied all of the images I haven't flagged are worthy of my time to edit them, I click on "PHOTO" and then "DELETE REJECTED PHOTOS". Then I usually go make a cup of coffee, take a shower or something while my slowwwwww pc performs this task.
Now that I've taken out the trash, so to speak, I click on the first "Keeper" image, and make adjustments to it in the DEVELOP MODULE in LR. The sliders on the right are pretty much in the order you should go in, from top to bottom. I almost always end up adjusting the EXPOSURE slider a little to the right (usually my adjustments are maybe 3-5, except the VIBRANCE slider. Vibrance saturates only the colors that need it, and is intuitive enough to leave the already saturated portions of the image alone. You don't want the adjustments to jump out at you, they should be subtle. I also stay away from the contrast slider, as there's a more efficient way to change that, that I'll get to later. I also stay away from SHARPENING, for the same reason. The following steps are what I use for most of my portrait images.
Next I'll go back to the LIBRARY MODULE and press CONTROL+E to open the image in PS. I next go to IMAGE, MODE and click on LAB mode. I then go to IMAGE, Adjustments, then Levels. In Levels I make sure there's information going from one side of my images histogram to the other. Usually you want the histogram to go from left to right. If the histogram ends before the edge of the box, drag the appropriate slider to where the histogram ends and press "OK". You can then reopen Levels and see that now the histogram's representation of the information in the image goes from one side to the other. This will help insure you don't have a flat image (missing detail or the full tonal range). Then go to curves, and do the same thing essentially. I also drop an anchor point on the very center of the diagonal line and create a slight "S" curve. This is that increase in contrast I spoke of earlier. Be careful not to overdo it.
I next go to IMAGE, MODE, and click on RGB mode. Now it really goes image by image, but I press alt+j twice to duplicate the background layer...but if there's catch lights (and hopefully there are) I'll use a white brush in OVERLAY mode at a 20% opacity and the size of the brush just larger than the highlight to brighten it. I may have to ckick 2-3 times to get it where I like it, then go to the other eye and repeat. I also use this for the white of the eye, but make sure you're using a soft brush, and press and hold the mouse button once. If you release it and press it again, wherever you've already gone over with the brush at 20% will now go over 20% again, making the combined brush strength 40%, click again 60%, and so on. You don't want to over whiten the eyes, making them look surreal. The rule of thumb is to slightly overdo it, then decrease the opacity of the top layer to lower the intensity of the effect or changes you made. Dial them down until they're barely noticable. Many subtle changes add up to the end product. If at any point the image looks "PHOTOSHOPPED", you've gone too far. I make duplicate layers, do adjustments on them, then dial down the opacity until I'm satisfied that the difference isn't too large of a jump, and adds to, rather than detracts from the overall image. Another tool I'll use is the SPOT HEALING BRUSH TOOL, making the soft small brush slightly larger than the blemishes, and clicking on blemishes that are not too close to edges. It draws an average from the area around it, and puts that inside the brush circle. It's a very powerful tool, but take it easy with it, keep the size small as you can, and use it for blemishes and pores. Also, make sure you're editing your image at 100% viewing it large. This is very important if you intend to print it somewhere later on. Keep it looking real, don't over process. Often at this point I'll flatten the layers, and make 2 more copies (alt+j), then sharpen the top layer (FILTER< SHARPEN< Smart Sharpen, 60% with a2 pixels lens blur. Then deselect the eye next to that layer (the sharpened layer), making it unseen, and select the copy below. FILTER. BLUR. GAUSSIAN BLUR. Use between a 1-5 pixel Gaussian Blur and click "OK". Now click on the eye on the top layer (the sharpened one), create a layer mask on the top layer, and usuing a black brush in NORMAL MODE at 100% opacity, use a soft brush on skin blemishes to smooth out problems, but leave some texture. after you paint in the effect (stay away from the eyes, lips and nostril openings, leaving them sharp). If you make a mistake, just press the "x" key to transpose the foreground colors to white foreground and black background, and paint over the mistake. Black reveals, white hides when in terms of layer masks.To dial down the effect, reduce the opacity of the second layer (the blurred layer). Then flatten the image by clicking Layer, Flatten Image. After you've finished this process and have the image looking how you like, flatten one last time, go to IMAGE, MODE, 8 Bit. Then FILE, SAVE AS, you can use tiff, jpeg, whatever you like, and save the file wherever you'd like. To save in the LR catalog, just click FILE, SAVE, and it should save it in your Collection in LR.
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