The objective of this study is a qualitative comparison between line-integrated OH chemiluminescence(OH$^$*/) image and its Abel inverted image to investigate the flame structure at different phase of the oscillating pressure field. PIV(Particle Image Velocimetry) measurements were conducted under non-reacting conditions to see the global flow structure and NOx emission was measured to investigate the effect of fuel-air premixing on combustion instability and emission characteristics. Experiments were carried out in an atmospheric pressure, laboratory-scale dump combustor operating on natural gas. Combustion instabilities in present study exhibited a longitudinal mode with a dominant frequency of ∼341.8㎐, which corresponded to a quarter wave mode of combustor. Heat release and pressure waves were in-phase when instability occurred. Results gave an insight about the location where the strong coherence of pressure and heat release existed. Also an additional information on active control to suppress the combustion instabilities was obtained. For lean premixed combustion, strong correlation between OH$^$*/ and NOx emissions was expected largely due to the exponential dependence of thermal NOx mechanism on flame temperature.