Gorgeous set of pics, Raymo
Alex, the main problem with photographing the Jewel Box/Coal Sack duo is the images are incorrectly processed, hence washing out the subtle details. Stems from not knowing what is there in the first place, so much of the detail is lost. The dark nebulosity for instance varies greatly in opacity, from very opaque to gossamer like puffs of smoke, and the structures vary too from pillars to fibrous curtains. Once you know that these structures are there, only then do you adjust your processing to suit. Not know this and your processing will not show these. Many, if not most photos are similarly unbalanced in their processing because the author does not know what is there.
Another example of this is The Eye of Omega Centauri. Most visual observers are very familiar with The Eye, but photos always has it burned out. May well be that it is unavoidable with photography, due to the nature of time exposures, though I also wonder how many times a photographer has noticed this Eye, didn't know what it was, thought it some sort of aberration and then "removed" it...
Capturing dark nebulosity I'm sure is one on the more technically challenging elements in AP.
Alex.