Open Mic Night @ Fountain City

[creativedisco]

The girl in the picture just showed up to my friends' open mic night that they host in Columbus, GA. None of us had even heard of her, but then she got on the mic and absolutely blew everyone's mind.

That's not why this picture is in the "Critique" section, though. I want to do this talented musician justice with some of the shots I took, and could use the community's assistance. Aside from removing the ugly blue line artifact, what can I do to make this photo better? I don't have Photoshop, but I do have GIMP, so bear that in mind.



Olympus E-500
ISO: 1000
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/10
Focal Length: 26mm

[windrider86]

One thing I find distracting is the background. Its very busy and totally takes away from the singer. IMO, I'd crop it closer to her, keeping within the rule of thirds.
It's also quite grainy (from iso being at 1000) Olympus has that problem with grainy photos at high iso. I'd do a noise removal and then come back and sharpen the image.