Fiddling

[CraigVTR]

I am after a bit of advice on this shot. I know I have blown some highlights on the girls face and there is motion blur and the lighting is crap, but I like it because it shows the vigour and passion that was going in to the performance. Iam, however not sure if the crop I have chosen really works or I should take more off the right hand side. Please give me some opinions. Thanks

[stubbsy]

Craig - I agree the image works because of the (e)motion it conveys. Maybe try a square crop.

[Mr Darcy]

I like the photo too but think it would be better cropped. I don't agree with the square crop though.
This is my attempt. Let me know if you want it taken down - I will remove it from Flickr too.

[CraigVTR]

Thanks guys.
Peter, I would have tried your crop suggestion but I do not have to as Greg beat me to it. I do like the closer crop but will most likely explore something between my crop and Greg's. Thanks Greg for showing me your thoughts. I plan to do a photo book of my trip some time in the next 6 months and this shot will be included in a crop that suits the placement.

Thanks again.

[Murray Foote]

I'd be inclined to crop it further in than Greg's, just past the midpost of the cymbal and even crop up a bit from the bottom. Then darken the background crossbar and drummer right down and extend the negative space to the left and a touch above with context sensitive phil in CS5. You can probably partly recover the blown highlights in the face if you really want by very gently painting in another layer filled with an appropriate tone. Then you may or may not be able to improve the image with selective contrast or sharpening on the woman's face.

[zafra52]

Same here, more cropping is needed.

[CraigVTR]

I understand where you are comming from Murray espcially with changing the negative space. I will have a play around in the next couple of weeks and see what I can come up with, but I am not sure if my cs4 skills are up to some of your suggestions.
Thanks for the ideas.