Things Heat Up

A high-energy moment in an evening of improvised music.

too grainy and the out of focus sax player doesn't fit in with so much cropped off him. there's no point of interest to draw the eye in and around the picture

I wonder if cropping the drummer a little more would make for more symmetry with the sax player.

 

As for grain -- what would you suggest I do about it? I shot this with a fast (for a zoom) lens, wide open, at as long a shutter speed as I felt I could get away with. I know people like NeatImage and Noise Ninja, but I haven't tried them. I worry that noise reduction will kill detail and leave my photos lifeless.

This is not too grainy. This looks like a gritty club scene & should be grainy if for no other reason but because of the low light situation. It's cool, I dig it.

Thanks, Mike. How did you stumble across this? I have a bunch more photos in my gallery in the same vein, some of which are, frankly, better than this one in my opinion.

With a little distance, I agree with James that this photograph lacks a unifying subject.

 

Thanks, James.