M42, NGC 1976, Sh-2 281 Composite

It turns out the reducer can eat away detail. Here is a composite of two stacks from different filters and different focal lengths. The goal was to bring back the sharpness from the old image into the shot with the reducer. I have to admit that I couldn't fully restore the sharpness. The SNR improved nicely in the center of the frame, leaving a noisy border, and I had to get clever with a mask to fix the bug. The colors mixed interestingly from the different filters; I wanted to adjust the color to be closer to the latest version. Some Herbig-Haro objects were partially lost, which is unfortunate, but as a learning process, it turned out quite engaging. In short, it's possible, but not advisable. I think that's enough M42 for now. Sorry for the photo spam—I only recently posted a similar one. P.S. The shot with the reducer was also taken under terrible seeing for my location.