Smashin' Crashin'

Gallery: WildlifePosted May 5, 2014131 views5 comments

Hi Everyone! I went to Waterton Lakes National Park with my family last week and we found a herd of bighorn sheep at the base of one of the mountains. My dad went up to photograph a couple of the bigger rams, but Jenaya and I noticed some different rams looking like they might have head-butting contest so we headed that way just in case. Good thing we did! We got lucky with four different rams that kept smashin' and crashin' in an epic head-butting battle. I got lots of pictures but this was me and my dad's favourite. I hope you like it!

We couldn't decide if it looked better in colour or black and white, so I posted both! Please tell me which one you like better!

Also, there was a third ram just behind the guy on the left, which is why we went with this crop.

Thanks for looking!

Nikon D7100
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED
ISO 2800
1/1250sec @ f/4.5
monopod

Dad's Processing Notes:
Converted from RAW using Phase One Capture One Pro 7
Minor adjustments to tone and contrast in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza 2
Noise reduction using Nik Dfine
Cropped to app. 50% original width with additional adjustments in PS5
B&W version converted with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 with blended layers in PS5

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Josiah Launstein on May 5, 2014 at 7:39 AM

Registered on January 26, 2013, 52 Posts, 126 Comments

Comment posted by Kathy Barnhart on May 5, 2014 at 5:21 PM

Wow, great action shot with even some pieces of fur flying. I can almost hear the crash! I like the color one best, though both are excellent. I like seeing just a little of the eyes of both rams and the very close-up nature of the shot.

Registered on November 11, 2011, 404 Posts, 1639 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on May 5, 2014 at 6:42 PM

Nice action. I find the color version stronger as well. I do wish that the fellow in front (fur sticking up) had stayed out of the shot, but you have to shoot when the opportunity presents itself. Nice job.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on May 6, 2014 at 2:01 PM

Josiah, I think this is pretty darn nice. I know you already worked with the crop and the square crop was chosen to cut out an intruder ram, so there is not much more to be said about that. I like this for the flying bits of grass, that we can see an eye on each ram, the angles of the horns implying the busy action and how the up close crop makes us look right at that action. I prefer the color version, and one tweak in processing you guys might try would be to keep the warms on the rams, but selectively reduce the yellowish color of the background foliage by cooling that area down with WB adjustment.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Josiah Launstein on January 24, 2015 at 4:26 PM

Thank you everyone for commenting on my picture.

Registered on January 26, 2013, 52 Posts, 126 Comments