Thanks for your comments guys.
gamma..... processing can make or break an image (providing youve got good data to start with) there are those like jase whove made it a bit of an art.... i will get there slowly.
zuts..... yes yours does have more red.... what is the true color
stuffed if i know. my theory is more or less this you should be able to see some star color variations, ie some yellow and some blue, if all your stars are red its too far..... also some areas of the image will have little or no nebulosity (eta is a bit of a tough case as its so big and dense) one can do a levels color balance at a point that should be grey. i suspect chips would vary so some will produce a slightly different result. At the end of the day once youve altered an image so that it can no longer be used for Astometry or some other scientific application, it falls into the realm of pretty pictures, and as long as it looks nice to the owner thats what counts...... Most non astro people would not have a clue and be impressed anyway.
i have played with the image some more and shown accordingly little interesting bits (this is without a doubt the best eta image ive produced so i am a bit thrilled about it)
i will no doubt play with it some more but thats it for now
clive