Before & After #1. Hi, and welcome to a new thing that I'm trying! I'm hoping to inspire y'all to snap some photos and try your hand at editing!

As you can see, the original SOOC (straight-out-of-camera) shot is pretty flat and dull, but has potential to become much better with a few easy adjustments. The Pros of this photo: strongly romantic moment; I love her windblown hair; nice and centered composition. Cons: the sky is totally blown out, obliterating the clouds; narrow color gamut; lack of contrast. 

The human eye is instinctively drawn to the lightest and warmest parts of an image. Since the brightness of the sky is super distracting, I dialed down the highlights in the sky using the Adjustment Brush, along with lowering the color temperature in the sky to help bring out the blues. I then used the Radial Filter to recover the shadows in her face, which helps to draw the viewer's attention first and foremost to their amazing kiss. I also added a touch of warmth with the White Balance Temperature dial, amplifying the effects of the Golden Hour. Finally, I cloned out (using the Spot Removal tool) a couple of distracting flare artifacts and a branch in the upper right corner, brightened her engagement ring a touch to give it some sparkle, and voila -- done! (All my adjustments were done in Adobe Lightroom Classic -- no need for Photoshop here.)

Camera and settings are as follows: Sony A9, Sigma 35mm f/1.2 @ f/1.2, 1/6400 second, ISO 100.

I hope this helps y'all. Happy Shooting!

Before.

After.