To perform imaging of a subterranean structure, an imaging operator is generated through the design of a weight, where the weight is computed according to a design criterion, where the design criterion is selected from the group consisting of: (1) the imaging operator provides a true amplitude image; (2) the imaging operator minimizes mean square error; and (3) the imaging operator corresponds to a least squares inverse of a forward modeling operator. The weighted filter as defined by the computed weights is applied to produce an image of a subterranean structure.