A system and method can mitigate or prevent contrast ratio issues due to bright light (e.g., light saturation) in a head up display (HUD). The head up display can include a waveguide combiner (or non-waveguide combiner) and a mitigator disposed to prevent or reduce bright light from being provided through the combiner. The bright light can be direct lunar light, direct solar light, or solar/lunar reflections. The mitigator dynamically selects and reduces bright background light which results in an increase of contrast ratio.