Bighorn Silhouette

A male Desert Bighorn Sheep framed through sun-lit Juniper branches in southern Utah. I found this individual by following the loud cracking sounds of his contest with another male, which took me high up and far back in the icy slickrock. Before I saw them, one of the males charged over the hill and ran at me full tilt, like he planned to ram me off the mountainside. When he was about 50 feet away he spotted me and ran by in a wide arc, so I assumed he had lost and was just beating a hasty retreat. When I topped the hill I saw the winning male and his female companion, and decided to try shooting them through the thick branches of a juniper. The morning sun was just to the left of them, so I cupped my hand on the edge of the lens to block it a bit, though the needles all around me caught the light also and add some interesting texture to the photo in my opinion. C&C much appreciated.

Canon 5d Mark iii, 300mm f/4 lens, 1/500 sec at f/4, ISO 250, handheld