Thanks all. The masking technique definately helps. I save the original.pic image file in Iris as a .tiff then open it in Photoshop, using Levels to get a very bright image, burnt out in the bright parts, save that, the re open the original and use Levls to only show the bright parts, save that, and mask the dark one over the bright one, using this proceedure
http://www.astropix.com/PFA/SAMPLE4A/SAMPLE4A.HTM