What is the order of adjustments in Basic module

[jljonathan]

In LR3, the adjustment order started at the top, exposure-recovery-fill light-blacks. This order meant that you first set the white point with exposure, maybe used recovery, and set the black point with blacks. In LR4, whites and blacks (white and black points) are at the bottom leading to the belief that we now adjust exposure (brightness) first and make our way down to the white and black points. This seems backwards.

[Schewe]

The order that the ACR/LR pipeline processes has zero relationship to the order that a user set the adjustments...you can adjust the settings in ANY order and be assured that the pipeline processes the adjustments in the optimal order.

In terms of the proper order to adjust, Exposure and Contrast in LR4 are the major adjustments with the remaining adjustments are intended (and designed) as adjustments to the adjustments.

The easiest way of learning LR 4 is to forget what you though you understood in LR 3. The PV 2012 settings are all new and only slightly related to previous adjustments...

The top down approach is still suggested...Exposure first, then Contrast with the remaining adjustments designed to fine tune the previous adjustments...

[luxborealis]

Thanks for clarifying Jeff.

In an effort to Expose-to-the-Right, we often get some clipping - within that 2/3s to 1 stop tolerable range for raw files. If that's the case, would it make sense to start the Basic adjustments by eliminating that clipping using the "Whites" adjustment, then move back up to Exposure and Contrast?

[jljonathan]

Thanks for clarifying Jeff.

In an effort to Expose-to-the-Right, we often get some clipping - within that 2/3s to 1 stop tolerable range for raw files. If that's the case, would it make sense to start the Basic adjustments by eliminating that clipping using the "Whites" adjustment, then move back up to Exposure and Contrast?

That's what I was getting at when I asked about setting the white and black points first, as was done in v.3. Jeff seems to imply that one should adjust the overall brightness and contrast first, and then continue down the line ending with setting the white and black points. It seems counter intuitive from past experience, but maybe there is something going on inside v.4 that now makes this the preferred method.