While colours are part a matter of emissions, camera sensitivity, sky background and even personal taste, I probably went a bit green on a Tarantula image recently (left). But having just, rather belatedly, discovered the joys of SCNR on PI, would like your esteeemed opinions on this new attempt at the colour of the nebula, which is more bluish (right). I don't think it necessarily should be pure red, as there's a decent bit of OIII in the nebula which, along with Hb and my DSLR camera's reduced sensitivity to Ha, would be a significant contribution to the colour balance of the nebula. The environment of NGC2070 is pretty intense, so different emission from pure hydrogen has been observed. Out of the camera, the images fairly easily appeared green (daylight white balance).
Soooo, what colour would you expect? The original on the left seems too green, though I enjoyed it as an image to make. The one on the right, with SCNR applied (and a little LHE touch-up) seems a bit too blue. The reds don't easily show up, although they are there in part in some of the other LMC nebulae I've imaged. NGC346 appears very blue in my imaes, as it does for many.
Anyone else with DSLR experience of imaging the Tarantula? What would you prefer, on the presumption that full-on red isn't really an option with the DSLR, and maybe isn't quite accurate anyway?
the tarantula is always a funny one with unmodded dslr's it feels like it should show more red (even with an unmodded dslr) but doesn't. O3 is really a turquoise colour so I don't think the first pic is too far off the mark.
That's really interesting guys, thanks. Especially the spectrum (great Rob, cheers!), which supports that I tend to argue that it ought to be greener, based on an old research paper that talked about the OIII. But then there's the old adage about green in astro images - shifting the balance towards the OIII turquoise is a great idea.
