My first attempt at processing The Orion Nebula (M42) with Photoshop

In January I spent an astro-weekend in the mountains, the sole purpose of which was to acquire as many "lights" as possible, for as many objects as possible. And I'm still processing and re-processing a bunch of them.

Below is a picture of the Orion Nebula (M42) and The Running Man Nebula (NGC 1973, 1975 and 1977), processed in Photoshop. This is my first time processing something in Photoshop to this degree - I can safely say I've never spent so much time on a photo before. 

The Orion Nebula and The Running Man Nebula
17 min of exposure (30s, 60s and 90s)
Canon 450D and Stellarvue ED80
post-processing: DSS and Photoshop

I'm pretty happy with the result! :)