Glad you like them.
I mostly just fiddled with it. But the tools I used to fiddle with is what allows me to create what I did.
My main objective in retouching has to do with lighting and tone. I find the most valuable tools to manipulate lighting and tone is the gradient tool, paint brush tool, and the art history brush tool on various blending modes.
For example, to add light to something, I'd use the art history brush tool at the current history state, and set the blending mode to screen. To take light away from something, you would use the same tool, but with the blending mode on multiply. If you wanted to create contrast/color vibrance in an area, again, use the same tool, but with the blending mode on overlay, or softlight if you want something less harsh.
If I wanted to cast a light at an area, and have it gradually fade away, I find the gradient tool indispensible for this. First set the gradient tool blending mode to overlay, or soft light if you want something less harsh. I generally use the single color to transparent gradient. The color you choose will be whatever color light you want to cast on your image, or you could take away light by using a very dark color.
The rest of what I do is just some USM, curves, and color balance. I like to use high radii USM to fix poor lens contrast. I would usually apply it in various px. I think you used this technique in yours, so I won't go too into detail.
Curves, I generally find the contrast too high after the high radii USM adjustments. I would fix this by using curves to do the backwards S to reduce contrast. This would give it a more realistic color saturation and tone.
What I also like about curves, is that you can adjust each color channel individually. This is especially useful if there's a color hue on just the shadows or just the highlights. Then you can color correct just the shadows or just the highlights very easily.