diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
index d4d3578b6e51..c7913731a741 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
@@ -2943,7 +2943,7 @@ def set_xscale(self, value, **kwargs):
         # If the scale is being set to log, clip nonposx to prevent headaches
         # around zero
         if value.lower() == 'log' and 'nonposx' not in kwargs:
-            kwargs['nonposx'] = 'clip'
+            kwargs['nonposx'] = 'mask'
 
         g = self.get_shared_x_axes()
         for ax in g.get_siblings(self):
@@ -3239,7 +3239,7 @@ def set_yscale(self, value, **kwargs):
         # If the scale is being set to log, clip nonposy to prevent headaches
         # around zero
         if value.lower() == 'log' and 'nonposy' not in kwargs:
-            kwargs['nonposy'] = 'clip'
+            kwargs['nonposy'] = 'mask'
 
         g = self.get_shared_y_axes()
         for ax in g.get_siblings(self):