When to use Exposure / Brightness?

[fullkoll]

Can anyone give me a simple explanation of the difference between EXPOSURE and BRIGHTNESS in LR?

If I look at the histogram they both seem to have the same effect.........

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Exposure is a linear adjustment, brightening everything by the same amount.

Brightness brightens on a curve, so it stops it clipping the highlights.

 

[fullkoll]

Exposure is a linear adjustment, brightening everything by the same amount.

Brightness brightens on a curve, so it stops it clipping the highlights.

I tried it and..... you´re right

Many thanks!

 

[rcannonp]

The way that I heard it explained by one of the Adobe heavyweights is that you should use the Exposure slider to set your white point, and then use the Brightness slider to adjust the midtones. If you hold down the option key when you adjust the Exposure settings then it will display where channels are clipping and you can adjust accordingly.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Yep, excellent description Cannon!

 

[rcannonp]

I think that the Exposure slider is mislabeled, and should be called Set White Point or something like that. When I first started shooting digital images, I thought about it like I was shooting chromes, and that if I ever had to move the Exposure slider then I was exposing incorrectly. I've since learned to think about it more like shooting negatives where the goal with the exposure(in camera) is to capture the right information to make a good print.