alt Hacker NewsYou can do something similar in GIMP:
1) Colors > Components > Decompose > LAB
2) For the layers of the A/B (chroma) channels, Colors > Levels > "Auto Input Levels" (maximize the contrast), and move the mid point to the median.
3) Colors > Components > Compose > LAB
Can you explain 2 a bit more? I see the Auto input levels but unsure what you mean by "move the midpoint to the median."
The result I got for the original mars image was a washed out red image with some yellow around the craters.