I think I didn’t quite explain myself well.
And why would you have to touch the mask after generation with the current controls?
If my solution is viable, and the histogram is always perfectly spread out, these controls are superfuous, since their purpose is to spread the mask across 9EV nodes:
That’s only useful if you can decide to limit the mask. If I only have to correct part of the image (say the lighter parts) I do not care whether the shadows are all bunched up at the left side. I’m not going to touch them…
You are right, that’s what the white/black point sliders I was proposing would do. You could choose to exclude certain parts of the mask to work on highlights, shadows or midtones only:
Think of them as a way to zoom into the mask’s histogram, without changing its exposure or its contrast.
That, I doubt: there are a number of other controls in the masking tab, like what type of mask to generate, what estimator to use for pixel lightness, and some to steer mask generation.
Your proposal would replace/remove two out of 8 or 9 controls, some of which cannot be replaced by an automated procedure, like the luminance estimator you want to use. Same for most of the others: the setting to use is not purely technical but also depends on your interpretation of the image…
Once you remove the “unnecessary” sliders (this is all hypothetical), they could be moved to the other tabs no problem, and the masking tab could be removed.
but thats not the darktable way - simply stuff at cost of control.
darktable is driven by those who wants the control they need and other tools doesn’t provide.
So simplifying stuff is ok, but not on cost of control. And the masking tab gives a whole bunch of control.
I’m not advocating for removing any features. If my idea is doable, things would work the same, but once the mask is created to suit your needs, it would “just work”, without the need for compensating exposure or contrast, so less tabs and sliders. In fact, it would be easier to use, since you could watch the mask’s histogram while you adjust the controls.