Using StarMask in Areas of Higher Background Signal

[GaryI]

StarMask works great for me 98% of the time, but in the settings I have tried, it does not seem to recognize stars which lie in front of a stronger background signal.  For example, in front of a nebula or a galaxy.  There still is a significant difference in lightness in these cases, so I am thinking that perhaps there is a way to make it work.  Any ideas for me to try? 

Thanks,
Gary

[GaryI]

Well, I figured it out myself.  I needed to isolate the stars from the larger image structures using one of the Wavelet processes first, before applying StarMask.

[drmikevt]

A lot of people will apply a heavy HDRMT before running star mask - it really helps to separate the stars from the nebula.