(Sam Javanrouh) workflow:

1. I shoot mainly in RAW
2. I use C1 LE to process and try to do most of my curve/colour adjustments there and save to uncompressed TIF. Here is when most of the colour correction happens by fixing the white balance and exposure corrections. Sometimes I process an image with different passes (light and dark) similar to exposure bracketing in camera and merge them in Photoshop later.
3. Open the image in Photoshop and finalize the cropping and additional curve/tonal adjustments if needed.
4. copy merged to a new layer.
5. adjust USM (Unsharp Mask)
6. fade USM effect to luminance
7. resize in a number of steps to minimize jagged lines
8. USM and fade to luminance again
9. Save As and not Save for web for EXIF data

voila, image is ready.

original post

"Here is my Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) processing technique in full detail with images for each step. I am putting this up, because I believe it is the best way to process RAW files in ACR (you will probably agree with me after seeing it in action). The photo I choose has quite a large dynamic range, a typically difficult picture for any camera."

original post