Photography

I took evening classes to learn how to work with Lightroom & did a very extensive online course (3 years in total) to learn how to work with Photoshop. It takes time, effort & it's relatively expensive in comparison to free YouTube tutorials, but it was definitely worth it.

It's true that you can find good, free tutorials on YouTube, but you have to sift through a lot of garbage. And they won't teach you everything. With an evening class or online course, they "serve" you everything you need to know in one package. Plus you get feedback & inspiration both from tutors & other students.

I have tried apps like Skillshare too, but basically anyone can be a "teacher" on those (they even asked me a couple of times, that said enough for me :p) & a lot of "classes" are just bad quality.

I would definitely recommend a good online course. The one I did was with a well known centre of adult education in my city that also did language courses etc. Very good quality. Everything was clearly explained & shown through videos & you had to hand in a task each week, which the tutor would give feedback on. On one hand you can just do it at home at your own pace, but on the other you get a little push to do the work each week, which I definitely needed. :p It also pushes you out of your comfort zone a bit, because you learn things that maybe you wouldn't have thought of on your own.

Anyway, I hope this helped a bit, good luck!

I've found PixImperfect on youtube to be a phenomenal retoucher/Photoshop guru. Can't recommend him enough. I always learn something new from him and I've been using Photoshop professionally for over 30 years. here are some videos on making adjustments to RAW images:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXCHi0Uo2Ew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkfSa0lFToY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4St6DOE26E

I also looked at Amy Shore's images and it seems to me that most of what creates that look is her camera and lens, and likely an ND filter. You can probably get close in Lightroom with some effort.

Question: do you use radials and gradients in your editing? Or do you mask an area and the apply settings or are you editing the settings of the entire image?

I like how OP crossed out "a photographer" since I still don't like using the word after 7+ years of shooting. It strikes me as people who call themselves "entrepreneur" or "artist" or "content creator" or worst yet "guru" in their bio.

Self-taught. Never bought a preset. Still have no clear idea what I'm doing. I've been trying to do less though.

At the very least, it sounds like Amy Shore herself doesn't seem to think she knows what she's doing either?

I'm by no stretch an expert, but looking at some of her work I suspect that her "look" is coming from a whole combination of factors: lenses, filters, camera settings, choice of light and subjects, and composition. Setting aside the usual arguments for having one's own style, I can see why you'd want to try to emulate her - very powerful stuff! But anyway, my point is that a lot of things are going into those photos, and I suspect that no amount of post-processing is going to get you that "look." (Her composition and use of depth of field, for instance, seems really key to a lot of her shots. The ones I looked at also make very heavy use of atmospheric/environmental effects, and probably clever use of filters. She assuredly put a lot of work into shooting at just the right time and place to make those work out, probably with a lot of test runs and a lot of failures that we don't see. She also had models/drivers/vehicles that were very well-chosen, which had to have involved a lot of work in and of itself.)

Since you are stuck, may I make a suggestion? I would suggest (1) going through samples of her oeuvre that you like, and (2) for each image, stopping and cataloging what you like about it. Break it down by subject, composition, lighting, perspective, etc., etc. (as much as you can). Try to figure out what she is accomplishing (that you would like to be able to accomplish), and as much as you can, what she did to accomplish it. (The "what" is for the most part not going to be post-processing, though it could involve that.) Try to be as granular as you can. After doing that, (3) compile all the examples into a master list, to see if there are some patterns (things you reliably admire about what she is doing, along with what you can determine about what may have gone into that). Then, (4) pick a few examples from your list, and think about how you could use them in your work. Now (5) go out and try to use those techniques. Assess (6) how it went, and adjust/discard/go back for more as needed.

This has some advantages. First, it will hopefully be fun, because it's interesting to look at someone's work and try to unpack what was cool about it and how the tricks might have been done. Second, it will focus you more broadly on useful techniques for making better art, and not narrowly on how to use Adobe products - that gives you a lot more ways to attain your goals. Third, it gives you a way to learn from her work, without trying to copy it: when you pick up tricks you will end up making them your own. That's probably more satisfying in the long run, and anyway you aren't going to beat a master at her own game! And fourth, you can extend it by applying it to other artists whose work you admire.

Probably more elaborate than you wanted, but perhaps useful to think about....

Listen, the problem is that you have no idea what you're doing. So you should learn about retouching and photography more. Buying presets is completely absurd to a good photographer, it's a waste of money. Lightroom is very easy to use and is a minimal part of retouching. 10 years or 40 of experience are irrelevant. Better a month of experience trying to learn new things. So this cold shower was needed because you need to realize that you need a lot of learning,not just some advice on how to edit photos. Once you know the technical aspects of photography and you know the ins and outs of a software like Photoshop, because you studied from good teachers or professional resources, you can easily replicate whatever style you want without having to think much about it. It's like the gym where people work out for years completely wrong and achieve no results, while others study from the best resources and achieve a lot in just 6 months.

Now I highly suggest piximperfect as a YouTube channel. He shows you the correct ways to use Photoshop.

Kinda ironic this is on Amy Shore's website:

“The best advice I've ever received is, 'No one else knows what they're doing either.'”