m42 with nasty uneven illumination

[Herzy]

Process details:

I ran the WIPE module in StarTools several times with different settings. I also had to mask around the nebula apply "less = more" from the LIFE module. That got rid of most of the gradients so I was only left with the banding that I couldn't remove. 

To bring out the data further I ran a noise reduction and then I used the "filter" menu to manually pull out the fainter details. I also applied sharpening, contrast, and other various things. I ran a few iterations of "shrink" in the MAGIC module to tame the stars. 

That is not the exact process, but it is pretty close. Hope that helps!

[Atreta]

Herzy, nice,

gonna give startools a try.

thanks