Help me choose

[Andy Nowlen]

I'm working on my IC1396 Elephant Trunk Nebula project. I worked through some SHO derivative processing and came up with two results.
Now I can't decide which to finalize and post around social media.

What do you think? Blue tones or Gold tones?


Thanks for your help.

Andy

 

[JimFox]

This is tough Andy!

Either one by itself would be super cool and would not get any complaints. I will go with the blue tones #2 though as my pick. I think the blue tone in it let's the Elephant Trunk stand out more then in the gold version.

 

[AlanLichty]

Definitely a tough choice but I will lean towards the gold. For some reason it seems more realistic to my eyes although I have no basis for that choice based on solid science.

 

[Ben Egbert]

I prefer the cooler second image because it sets off the main shape of the nebula better.

 

[Mike Lewis]

They are both excellent - I understand why you cannot pick a favorite I have had this same issue myself many times in the past. For this choice, I lean towards the blue #2 version, as it provides a higher contrast backdrop for the Elephant Trunk Nebula itself I think. I do like they very bright highlights in the most energetic sections of #1 a lot though too - you really cannot go wrong with either one. I had a similar quandary on my IC1795 image and eventually just posted them both...

ML