Hi Dan - It might not be wildlife or pet, but it sure seems like nature to me, and on your grandpa's farm no less. That makes it special and the image definitely got my attention.
You've asked for critiques and I'm glad to offer mine though I think there are folks around here who are better qualified than I am concerning landscape and nature photography. Hopefully you'll hear from them tool
I like the moderator's 1-5 point rating system so I'll follow that outline:
Composition/use of frame space - 2 - I feel there is too much real estate below and to the left. It doesn't add to the image and in fact it detracts by virtue of the business of the detail in those areas and because it distracts from what seems to be the central point of the image - that happy little shack out in the clearing.
Colors/White Balance - 3- I like your choice to desaturate but I think greyscale goes too far. Sepia tone seems perfect for an image that evokes times past.
Exposure - 3 - Clearly this was a tough scene to expose correctly what with the bright sky against the numerous dark elements. My eye misses at least some detail or gradient in the sky to help balance the image top to bottom. My thought would be to make two exposures, one for the sky and one for the darker areas, then blend them to taste.
Creative use of Aperture/Shutter - 4 or n/a - Whatever aperture/shutter speed you used gave you reasonable depth of field and I'm not sure how creative you'd want to get with a scene like this, since I think it's evocative theme doesn't need much in the way of enhancements. Could offer more specific comments if you will share your EXIF data. Is it embedded in the image? I forgot to check.
Perspective - 1-2 - For me it's all about the little shack out there in the clearing. I'd love to see that more revealed and at a flattering angle.
Creativity - see Emotion -
Emotion - 4 - You were really on to something human here, more than just a pretty scene. I salute you for that.
Forethought/Visualization - 1 - This is like the pot calling the kettle black as forethought/visualization is an area where I need to do a lot of work myself. Wouldn't it be both interesting and rewarding to return to this location over and over again until you figure out exactly how you want to capture it, especially from a composition standpoint and with careful regard to the best time of day so that the light and overall contrast is just right!
Post processing - 2 - I've mentioned attention to cropping and sepia tone but the first thing I did with the image was duplicate the background layer and apply a gaussian blur which I then blended with the original, which seemed either over sharpened or more likely just suffering from too much contrast. This really showed up in the foreground grass as well as a couple of other areas. When I got the blur layer the way I wanted it, I duplicated that layer and applied the high pass filter at around 3 then switched the layer from normal to overlay, adjusting opacity to taste. That brought back some of the detail - or I should say some of the right kind of detail - and left a reasonable foundation from which to proceed with dodging in the center around the shack and burning around the outside such that the eye is drawn in to even past the shack to that nice little tree and patch of sun even further back into the scene.
And finally, I just couldn't resist placing your image in a somewhat different context that expresses what it stirred up in me. I tried to do the things with it in photoshop that I mentioned in the various categories above. Forgive the tacky frame - again, I just couldn't resist. Thanks for sharing your image and inviting feedback!
