I notice with auto exposure params if you are overexposing the image the lighter features stand out even more if there are darker areas in the image (since it's a mean sample value) but this could lead to issues with quality. Underexposing the image you end up getting dark images if there is a window or other large light source in the camera frame, resulting again in quality issues.
There is a case for image masking but I have not seen it been used in real applications: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228405828_Automatic_camera_exposure_control