Subtract background from gel image

Posted by Elizabeth Chia on Nov 20, 2008; 5:19pm
URL: http://imagej.273.s1.nabble.com/Subtract-background-from-gel-image-tp3694445.html

Hello all,

I am just using ImageJ to analyze my western blots. I need help with the
following questions:
Process>Subtract background.
(a)What is the appropriate value to use for the radius for a 8-bit image? I
find that in some cases, the value 50 artificially bleaches parts of my
image.
(b)Do I need to subtract the background if the blot looks even?
(c)If I don't use subtract the background, should I choose a random area of
the blot as background?

Thanks for your help in advance.
Elizabeth