• first I lightened the image using curves.
• then adjusted the saturation to +13.
• His skin was looking a little too blotchy and red because it was so cold outside. So under the Selective Color Options with the red selected, I turned down the black to -30 and the magenta to -5

After I made those changes his skin still had too much of a cold, blue tone to it and it was a little too dark. So I,

• Adjusted the image in curves again. This time just trying to lighten the shadows. Then in the red channel, I boosted the red just a touch to warm it up.
• Then in the Color Balance I turned the red up to +11 and turn the yellow down around -20.
• Last, I added a Soft Light in using the Layers palette and changed the opacity to 25%.

side by side comparison

This is the original image SOOC (straight out of camera)

This is the image after I ran an unsharp mask on it (basically that just means I sharpened it), then I lightened it and added contrast to the image using curves. I also boosted the saturation to about +12. And last, I added a soft light and then changed the opacity to about 30 percent.

After I did the above edits the image still looked a little dark to me. So I lightened it once more using curves. Then I used the sponge tool (saturate) to bring out a little bit more of the color in the brick and the grass. Next I used the dodge tool (lighten) up part of Macie’s profile around the eyes, nose, mouth and forehead. And lastly, I burned (darkened) around the edges to add depth and contrast.

Here’s the SOOC image and the photoshop image side by side.