Notoriously difficult in any telescope, the Horsehead pops out when using an H-beta filter. Additional stars from mag. 8-10 are sprinkled across the field. Nebula filters do not help much, indeed, they may harm the view. Dreyer describes it as very bright, very large, rich with a tail, and with some condensation.
Amateurs just look at the whole complex and say nothing.
This nebula surrounds Iota ORI, the end star on the sword of Orion. If you are like me, the first time you looked at NGC 1980, you didn't know that you were looking at an object that has a separate designation from the Great Orion Nebula. Smaller aperture shows a fairly even, gray disk. The surrounding nebulosity is very large and shows up faintly with the OIII filter.