A method includes increasing a dynamic range of a first sub-range (410, 510) of pixel intensity values of at least two images based on an intensity map, thereby creating at least two modified images, determining a deformation vector field between the at least two modified images, and registering the at least two images based on the deformation vector field. An image processing system (118) includes a processor (120) and a memory (122) encoded with at least one image registration instruction (124). The processor executes the at least one image registration instruction, which causes the processor to: increase a dynamic range of a first sub-range of pixel intensity values of at least two images based on an intensity map, thereby creating at least two modified images; determine a deformation vector field between the at least two modified images, and register the at least two images based on the deformation vector field.