Battle of the Rams
by Jenaya Launstein
Hey everyone! I captured this image early this spring in Waterton. We had spotted a herd of Bighorn Sheep and decided to spend the evening photographing them. A few of the rams were getting kinda frisky and started head-butting each other. My brother and I set up and started shooting the action. Then this happened! A third ram came in and headbutted, making it a three way fight! I was really surprised because it was well past their mating season.
It was quite amazing to watch. Every time their horns clashed it echoed through the mountains!
I hope y'all like it!
Nikon D7100
Nikkor IF-ED 300mm f/2.8 VR lens
ISO 1000
1/250sec @ f/7.1
tripod mounted
Comments
2 commentsThis must have been fascinating to watch (and to hear). I tend to agree with Richard about the faster shutter speed, but when I look at your techs and the "problems" to solve in this this shot (particularly related to keeping the 3rd ram in reasonably sharp focus) I'm not sure you had much room to go with a faster SS. And, of course, the blurring of the horns of the main subject does imply "action" so it could be viewed by some as a positive.
With the prevalence of video in the "mainstream" these days (and, of course, with the fact that many of our DSLR's can shoot hi-quality video) I have found myself looking at many scenes this year and asking myself "does this really work as a still or would it be more effective as a short video clip?" (to possibly insert into a slide presentation or whatever). Consequently I have stopped shooting some scenes as stills - things like an animal yawning, or rubbing its butt on a rock, etc. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out what button to push on my DSLR's to shoot videos (or, more importantly, wrapped my linear-thinking head around making the mind-shift to thinking in video terms!). But at the end of the day the best thing about the video craze for me is that it has made me look at scenes - and especially action scenes - differently and think about two questions: 1) Does this scene really work as a still? and 2) What can I do to make this scene work as a still?
When I look at this shot I wonder the same thing - not sure it works super well as a still but could be great as a video. Without context and/or commentary (and so often our images have to stand on their own) it's a bit hard to figure out what's going on here, especially as it pertains to the 3rd ram (almost looks like it's bending over to eat). So...when the image is taken in isolation and solely on its visual merits, I think the 3rd ram here is largely a distraction (at least for me).
Anyway, just my 2 cents worth. Food for thought (or not!).
Cheers...
Brad