My Tedious But Effective Editing Method

 

Here I will show you how I edit.  There's no real special magic or tricks.  Most of editing is about small adjustments that add up over time.

Step 1: Camera Raw Adjustments

I use a filter that I found on Reddit to give my photos a bit of an old school film look, but the filter messes with the color balance quite a bit, so I adjust the temperature and tint to bring the photo back to a color I like.

Next I make adjustments to correct any in camera errors or things that I don't like in the photo.  This photo was very underexposed so I mainly had to increate the whiteness and exposure.

Then I adjust the colors using HSL Adjustments, Split Toning, and Calibration.  Below is a summary of all the adjustments I made for this photo.  

The main point is to bring the brightness and vibrancy out of the colors you like while keeping things feeling realistic.

Step 2: Photoshop Adjustments

The first thing I do in photoshop is a selective color adjustment.  

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color.

Again I mess with the sliders until I have a look I like.  This is entirely up to you how you want to do it.  My only advice is to not go too crazy on the white, neutral, and black adjustments.  Here's how this photo looked after selective color adjustments.

Next I'll do some dodging and burning.  This is a technique stolen from film photography where you try to highlight the subject and hide things that are distracting.

Go to Layer > New Mode > Soft Light > Check The Box That Says Fill with Soft-Light-neutral color (50% gray)

Then select the brush tool (or press B).  Change the opacity to 8-10% and press D to change your colors to black/white.  Use white to highlight your subject or things you feel are too dark.  Use black to paint over things that are too bright.

For this photo I burned (painted black) around the car and on part of the headlight.  I dodged (painted white) on the hood of the car and on the left side where there are a few shadows.  

Below you can see the adjustments made...

Here's how the photo looks before and after dodging/burning.  This one was a little lazily done since I've already edited this photo in the past but you should get the point...  You can see the car stands out a bit more afterward.

The next thing I do is some more color adjustments.

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance.  You can select between Midtones, Highlights, and Shadows.  I usually make small adjustments to all of them.

This is your chance to determine the overall 'vibe' of the photo.  The key here is to work with the natural colors in the photo to decide which look you want.

Obviously I'm not going to tone up green in a photo like this because it would just throw everything off.  Instead I decided to maximize the amount of blue.

Those are all of the adjustments I make in photoshop.  At this point I like to take a break before opening the image up in Lightroom for a final edit.

Step 3: Lightroom Edits

The reason you want to take a break is because you have to reset your eyes.  Once you open the image up again in Lightroom you may notice some weird colors or different adjustments you'd like to make.  

This is like a final quality check before you ship out the product.

Here you can slide down and just make adjustments under Basic, HSL, Split Toning, and Camera Calibration.

Summary

Adobe Camera Raw

1) Apply the filter that I found on Reddit.

2) HSL Adjustments, Split Toning, and Calibration adjustments.

Photoshop

1) Selective color adjustments: Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color.

2) Dodging/Burning: Go to Layer > New Mode > Soft Light > Check The Box That Says Fill with Soft-Light-neutral color (50% gray).

3) Color Balance: Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance.

Lightroom

1) Make adjustments under Basic, HSL, Split Toning, and Camera Calibration.