Just a quick video on the basic editing I do when I photograph portraits. I start by doing basic edits in Adobe Lightroom (color, white balance, exposure, etc) then export the photo. I then open the photos in Adobe Photoshop to do more in depth editing.
Once Im in Photoshop the first thing I do is remove the highlights on the subject. I do this by creating a new layer, cloning out the highlighted areas, then dropping down the opacity on the cloned layer so it's not as noticeable.
I then use a technique know as "Frequency Separation." I don’t get in depth on frequency separation but there are a ton of good tutorials online regarding this.
From there I do a pass using the Imagenomic Portraiture filter. In Portraiture I use "Smoothing: Medium" in the program but I bring down the opacity of the layer so its not as noticeable and more natural. The last step I do is an action I created to slightly sharpen the eyes.
If you have any questions on any of the techniques feel free to send me a message. Check out the video above to see me go through the steps quickly.