Hi Martin,
yes, that worked very effectively indeed.
Retaining the Ha detail nicely now.
Good trick the 'blend mode' set to 'soft light'. Brings forward the layered images contrasted detail while retaining the background images core appearance/ star size but enhancing.
I just gave this a go with a Lum and Ha compilation and it worked a treat.
Certainly saves a lot of fiddling around with layer masking, 'hide all' then painting in the details you want to bring out.
Thanks for that
BTW... the image looks perfect now. Desaturating 15% was the go. It looks more ... 'natural'... mmm for lack of a better word.
Now go for an APOD.. reckon this will have a very good chance.
All the best
Rich