The behaviour of the exposure module, when using a drawn mask, in dt 3.6.1 (newly installed earlier today) is confusing me because it is quite different to what I think happens in 3.6.0. I would like to understand what I am doing wrong.
My sample image needs some considerable increase in exposure – say 2.4 EV for the one in front of me now. After adjustment, the image looks OK. If I decide that I want a part of the image to have a different (more, or less) exposure, I apply a drawn mask with normal blend mode. But as soon as I click on the image with my drawn mask shape of choice the image outside the mask boundary reverts to the exposure level of the image when first opened (in this case 2.4 EV underexposed). The histogram changes, but the exposure slider doesn’t move – it still shows +2.4 EV. In 3.6.0 only the area within the mask boundaries had its exposure modified (and then by zero EV, initially, of course).
My first reaction is that I have inadvertently toggled the polarity of the drawn mask – and indeed clicking this control returns everything outside the mask to the exposure I had set (+ 2.4 EV). But now the area inside the mask has reverted to the original exposure setting (2.4 EV underexposed). And that is not what happens in 3.6.0 – is it?
Furthermore, if I now delete the drawn masks altogether, then select ‘uniformly’, the image exposure is again where I want it to be (+2.4 EV), but as soon as I click on the icon for ‘drawn mask’ (to the right of that for ‘uniformly’), the image again reverts to the original state (2.4 EV underexposed), the histogram moves significantly to the left, but the exposure slider stays where it is, at + 2.4 EV, which is clearly not correct. Moving this slider now has no effect at all on the appearance of the image.
At this point clicking the ‘reset parameters’ option has no effect on the image in the viewport but the slider is reset to 0 EV. The only way to reset the image is to change the history stack
So, what am I doing wrong here?