Blown out? Bothersome?

[rob91]

The blown out portion of the face bothers me. It borders on kinda cool, but I'd prefer not to have it. Every time I try adjusting levels, curves, exposure, in lightroom I mess with the color/integrity of the image too much and I like it even less. Considering I don't know what I'm doing with these adobe programs maybe someone can recommend me something that works. Thanks =) Feel free to edit the shot away...

 

[Sw1tchFX]

I think it's edgy, classy, you've done better though, that's for sure.

 

[Peano]

I used a selective color adjustment layer (in the whites channel) to darken and color the blown skin tones, and the shadow/highlight filter to open the shadow details.

 

[JohnMF]

did you shoot in raw?