Apols. I hadn't realized that close acquaintance with a particular software package made one a scientist,
I'm married to a scientist*, and have a scientist daughter. You know, I don't think I've heard either of them say "I'm going to just stick this data into this freebie programme that I don't know anything about, slide a control or two around manually and randomly, and see what pops out of the other end". Is that the sort of conversation you often have? 'coz I'm loving the thought of you trying to get a paper published on the basis of MS Office and Zeke set to work by a rank amateur on a just-about-pixilated image. Sorry, did you mention you were a scientist?
You know what, some scientists, when given a new bit of kit by a technician, would ask some questions: how is it calibrated? What are the limits of its effectiveness? What errors is it likely to generate? That sort of thing. Clearly you take the view that scientists should only speak to scientists and no-one else could possibly have any sort of expertise. I mean, what on earth could someone who uses a far superior form of the software for a living ever know about the pitfalls of doing what you are trying to do?
Obviously it's really sciency to bring a crappy image into a crappy programme and slide a slider to the right until you see what you want to see. Obviously scientists wouldn't bother looking up the expert advice on image handling, or even getting a professional to do it for them. No, no.........just slide that slider to the right for the first time in your life and
Coral Draw Zeke pops up the answer to a 600 year old mystery just like that. It's got to be good.
But do go on. Feel free. It isn't my reputation you'll be shredding.
*Now teaching, no longer practising.