1. A method for rendering a mammography image, comprising: obtaining mammography image data for a patient and storing the image data in a computer-readable electronic memory; generating a mapping that transforms the image data to a predetermined output data space in which each input data code value corresponds to an output image data value by: (a) estimating a relative amount of dense tissue from the mammography image data; (b) identifying at least a first control point that delineates breast tissue from non-tissue image content and a second control point that delineates a fatty tissue region from a dense tissue region; (c) allocating output image data values in the output data space for the identified fatty and dense tissue content according to the estimated relative amount of dense tissue; and (d) mapping image data values to the allocated output image data values according to the first and second control points; and rendering the mammography image on a display according to the generated mapping.