1983 - Relax (don't do it)
by KHolt

Comment by KarenNfld:
Good background/DOF

It's a rough game
by KHolt

Comment by yanko:
Nice action shot. Good choice in duotone color.

It's a rough game
by KHolt

Comment by graphicfunk:
Great activity here with superb focus and great stop action. 7

1983 - Relax (don't do it)
by KHolt

Comment by LucidLotus:
Heh, poor cube. I like the idea, especially when coupled with that Relax song (Tommy TuTone?). The colors are a little bland and the lighting is a bit harsh.. making that odd yellowy undertone on the background. The focus on the front items is pretty good but I'm finding the background cubes to be more distracting than adding interest - possibly because they are out of focus due to the shallow DOF and they are such a large object in relation to the front cubes. Also there are some odd bits on the back cube clump that draw my eye. I'm not sure if that's glue or compression artificats or what. I do like the image and the idea behind it, just a few things (as mentioned above) that I'd suggest changing (if possible!) if you were to reshoot. I gave a 4.

It's a rough game
by KHolt

Comment by kano:
Mr Holt is this you..? Nice DOF & symmetry

It's a rough game
by KHolt

Comment by BakerBug:
Great action shot!

It's a rough game
by KHolt

Comment by slgardner:
Great action shot. Tones give it an old time feel. Well done!

It's a rough game
by KHolt

Comment by wrobel:
Serious stuff and a great shot exuding lots of determination and emotion. 9

It's a rough game
by KHolt

Comment by e301:
I'm no fan of this composition. Fror all the evident exertion, it holds little drama for me, the arms and shirts become confused to the left of frame, the tonality and processing don't differentiate the players from their background well enough.

Home time
by KHolt

Comment by cresus:
Greetings from the Critique Club

This picture, as has been commented previously, is a great representation for this challenge. Only criticisms are basically things out of your control.

Composition:
Nice off 2/3 placement of the shepherd and sheep. Excellent depiction of country life by inclusion of the house. I would've preferred less foreground distraction from the tree but in the limited time you had this is a nice capture.

Lighting & Camera Work:
The lighting in this shot is less than ideal since the subjects are all relatively dark as compared to the sky. I would've liked to see brighter subjects but again, in the limited time you had nice job. Exposure of the scene looks good. I think the focus should have been on the shepherd as opposed to the house.

Postprocessing:
I don't see any obvious signs of your cloning or dodge and burn. Sky saturation looks nice and isn't overpowered. Sharpness is a little low but noise levels due to high ISO may have prevented higher sharpening.

Suggestions:
Obviously it's hard to have suggestions for this since it was taken spur of the moment. If it were possible to retake the shot under whatever conditions you want, I would say having a better lighting (like early morning while he's taking them out) so the lighting isn't so flat, and repositioning to remove the distraction of the tree and brush in the foreground would really help this out.

I hope you find this helpful. Please don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions.

Regards,
Zeke Smith