Where to learn how and why different adjustments work together to achieve an overall coloring or editing style?

FYI - You can probably skip to the tl;dr at the bottom if you want, but if you find yourself tempted to respond with "just google it" maybe you should read the rest first after all.Anyway, here goes...Since photography became a serious hobby of mine about a year ago, I've learned numerous technical and compositional concepts and while I'm no expert, I've been content to see steady growth in my abilities to compose, light, and expose photos. However, I don't feel like my editing skills are progressing at the same pace.I started using and learning Lightroom as soon as I bought my DSLR (Nikon D3400) last summer. By now I think I have a pretty good grasp on the technical aspects of editing, i.e. I understand how to use the different panels of the Develop module. I've done some reading into basic color theory, so I understand a bit about adjusting the red, green, and blue tone curves, or using the HSL Color panel.While I feel confident in my ability to "correct" or make minor tweaks to my photos, I still feel like I'm completely at a loss when it comes to working with a photo that I'm proud of out of camera and giving it some kind of personal flair or style. I feel like I'm just guessing at playing with HSL sliders and red, green, and blue tone curves without any idea how to put it all together to achieve any kind of distinct or signature look and feel (unless "terrible" is a signature look, because I'm great at "terrible").I've done lots of googling for lessons on color grading and editing, but I feel like most of what I see focuses on the technical aspects. e.g. what each slider or function does. What I feel like I'm missing is how to put it all together to achieve some of the different styles I see from other photographers. I want to learn WHY a given combination of adjustments work together to achieve a specific style.I've never really experimented with presets much. Instead, I've preferred to learn Lightroom first and try to put it all together myself, but I feel like I've hit a wall and I'm not getting anywhere. Can anyone recommend some good presets to experiment with or other reading/tutorials to learn some different examples of common styles and techniques? I can find materials on how to achieve different looks, but I feel like the missing piece for me is always why the specific adjustments are made and why/how they all work together to produce the look they produce. It doesn't seem clear why these choices are made, or when it makes sense to apply them in my own work.Before you say it, yes I have googled this extensively with less than satisfactory results.tl;dr I've spent a lot of time learning the technical aspects of editing in Lightroom, but I'm having a hard time putting it all together to begin developing my own style. Can anyone offer any advice or recommendations on what to read/watch or what presets to learn from to get a sense of common editing and coloring styles? Ideally I want to not only learn how to achieve different styles, but how and why the different adjustments work together to achieve the overall style? via /r/photography https://ift.tt/2MQTRDr