Tone mapping

Tone mapping is the brightness half of turning a scene-referred image into a picture. Scene light runs from deep shadow to an 800% specular; a display runs from its black to its white. Tone mapping is the curve that maps one onto the other — an S-shaped rendering that places middle grey sensibly, rolls highlights off so they compress instead of clipping, and holds shadow detail. It’s the reason a color-managed pipeline “just looks like an image” the moment you turn it on: the DRT is applying a filmic tone curve for you. When someone says highlights “clip harshly” or go “chalky,” they’re describing a tone-mapping decision — the sibling of gamut mapping, which handles color rather than brightness.

First used in: 3.2 · Tone & gamut mapping, DRTs