import, keyword, organise (get into the habit)

preview, select shot to work on (use stars to select)

go to develop module (D) as you have more options

exposure… obvious… kind of

white balance : 3800K is my favourite for night sky (near Hobart)… the atmosphere is like a filter and the colour of that filter depends on light pollution when you are close to a city (yellow/orange)

at 3500K you start to get a dark blue sky… which can be quite nice visually but is not ‘real’… some people prefer warmer tones… whatever works for you BUT… rant

what colour is the night sky ? http://www.coe.montana.edu/ee/jshaw/publications/Blue_Night_Sky_OPN1996/Blue_NightSky_OPN1996_b.html

contrast… leave alone… better to use whites and blacks sliders and tone curve

highlights and shadows… leave until later

whites (to the right > increase contrast but loose detail in the highlights)

blacks (to the left > increase contrast but loose details in the shadows)

I usually go back to highlights to ‘recover’ some of the tones in the highlights (but I rarely touch shadows for night photos… no need + introduce more noise if you do)

clarity… will increase ‘local contrast’… will make the image pop… great but be careful with halo effects

introducing adjustment brushes… love them !

vibrance and saturation… easy tiger

tone curve… add further contrast if needed
‘s curve’ explained http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/20477976
also http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=401825#post401825

noise reduction… a big one
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-lightroom-5/reducing-image-noise/

export