Photoshop Secrets...

Let's start with what I do to every picture that I come in contact with.
Immediately I scan through the pictures after I have them saved to my computer and find any that are worthy of my valuable time. Remember it is said of photographers to "take 100 pictures to get one good one- anything after that is a great day!" Don't be discouraged if most of them are rubbish- it is okay if you have just one that is worth a second look. Odds are you are going to have several that are going to be workable.
Open your picture in Photoshop and crop as needed.
Copy the layer using ctl+J. Now...assess your color, lights and darks, etc.

The first thing I typically open is going to be my Levels adjustment layer found at the bottom of my layers box. It is found in the half black/white circle. Pull the sliders in on each side until they meet the mound beginnings (the right side represents the lights or whites, and the left side represents the darks or blacks). This will fill in any missing whites and blacks and overall will make it a little bit brighter. Now if the midtones are still a little dark, just pull the middle slider toward the left. Adjust either side as needed from here.
Next I work with a Curves Adjustment Layer (found in the black/white circle at the bottom). Pull in the top and the bottom sliders just a hair to brighten the picture overall. If the midtones need brightening, pull it up a little too. Adjust as needed here- but don't overdo it.
Now, yet another adjustment level, open the Hue Saturation layer (same little circle at the bottom of the layers box). I typically increase the saturation around 7-8. This doesn't affect your picture that much, but enough that I care. Change the blend mode to color on this layer, especially if you increase the saturation more than 10 or so.
These few steps should have affected your picture quite a bit already!

Now the fun doesn't end here...

Photoshopping EYES:
My favorite secret that photographers hate to tell!
Take the above image you are working on (if it is a portrait and you like the color) and compress it using ctl+shift+E. Now ctl+J to copy the layer once.
Go up to the Filters and scroll down to Sharpen. Go to smart sharpen and click. Increase the slider to your desired level looking only at the eyes on the portrait. Once they appear bright click OK. Now you need to cover this layer with a mask by pressing alt+the mask button (next the the adjustment layer button ... at the bottom of the layers box). This should cover the layer with a black mask making the visibility of the sharpen gone. Now go to your brushes and click. Adjust the size of your brush and zoom into your picture around the eyes. Color with white on the adjustment layer and you should start seeing the sharpened eyes come through. Only do this to the iris of the eyes as it will look funny around the rest of it by possibly adding noise to your picture... just color within the lines! Or it can make the eye look red too if you stray into the white of the eye. When you have it like you like it you're done with this! The eyes should be brighter already. If you don't think they're quite sharp enough press ctl+J and see if that looks better. Adjust the opacity of this layer if too much.

Now for a romantic blur...
Compress this layer when you have it like you like it by pressing ctl+shift+E again. Now ctl+J to copy it.
Go to the top and select filters and go down to blur and then choose gaussian blur. Increase the strength until you have a nice blur, but not too terribly much. Click ok. Now decrease the opacity of that layer to about 30%. This should give it that romantic blur seen in the old movies. I like to bring out some of the sharpness now of the layer underneath. We're going to do the same method as before by except we're going to cover this layer with white and paint with black. To do this hit the mask button by itself (the circle within a rectangle at the bottom of the layers box next to the adjustment layer button). Now get your brush and paint with black over the eyes, lips, fingers, etc. However you like it. Play with it and see what you think.

That is a good first lesson! You've done great if your picture looks good! This takes a lot of practice if you are a beginning.

Now as a final ending I like to do one last thing...
Compress your image again using the ctl+shift+E and then ctl+J one more time. Change the blend mode to overlay and decrease the opacity to somewhere around 20%. This gives a neat effect to most pictures. Also you can try multiply mode for this. I especially like this to increase some saturation on outdoor photos, however, it doesn't look great for all pictures.

This only skims the surface of what each picture really deserves. Pictures are like women, they don't really look that great until they do some work. Women don't roll out of bed and go, but they brush their teeth, take a shower, dry and do their hair. Then they put on some makeup and earrings, then some perfume and the right outfit for the day. All of the elements have to match or else it looks odd. The shoes have to match the purse. The bra has to match the panties. The same goes for pictures. Each piece is so important from the underwear to the makeup. Photoshop is a beautiful dressup shop for your pictures! It just takes some time to learn what pictures look best with what elements. Have fun learning.

More to come.