Oh, It's ON!!! (w/reposts)

Forget everything you've heard about bighorn rams fighting only during the rut just for the attention of females...

...Sometimes they do it just to maintain their respect...

...Or in black & white if you prefer...

...When you hang with a thuggish, unsavory bighorn gang like this, there's bound to be some infighting now and then...

Whoa! SWEET Josh! What perfect timing on that second one!

...And a final closeup of one of the "gang members." These guys were congregating in the Big Thompson Canyon yesterday, in the middle of Highway 34, with little regard for the traffic, or the crazy photographers lining up near them to get images.

(Full disclosure: The background on all images was blurred additionally in Photoshop, on the "head butt" images the tag of "#71" and a couple of bighorn in the bg were removed and some vignetting was added on most of these). Thanks for viewing!

BTW/FYI: This is what I mean by "crazy" photographers. "Crazy" does not include people who parked along the nearby wide shoulders and photographed from across the street well away from the rams with the aid of a 300mm lens (as several people and I did). "Crazy" means those who stopped in the middle of speeding traffic on the highway or even backed up right next to the wildlife as pictured here. (License plate blurred to protect the guilty). I was not surprised to see this kind of behavior (I see people do this stuff all the time), but I was surprised I didn't see an auto accident or a ram charging a car this time.

OMG...Nimber 2 is one of the best wildlife shots I can remember!!! I can almost feel the pain coming. Amazing comp and capture Joshua!!!

While the tongue job is humorous, I love the fighting scene and what you've done to the background only magnifies the impact.

Wow! This is some fine work. The grouping of 3 is my favorite, but #2 is close. On #2, I might consider desaturating the background slightly just to make the sheep stand out more.
Fabulous work here, Joshua!

Just once I'd like to see one of those guys head butt a car parked in the middle of the road.

Fantastic shots, Josh! I'd prefer the ramming rams a little more with a little less artistic license added to the background, but still a very awesome shot, as are all of them.

I used to hang out with some unsavory types. You'd better be careful...

Great shots! I believe someone is already in the process of making a sculpture of #2 they are going to put it up at CSU. http://www.dawnweimer.com/bronze-sculpture/work-in-progress-bronze-sculpture.html

I agree with Todd about the background. While dramatic it is almost distracts from the Rams.

That first one is great! Wait, they all are. Although your bold treatment of the background does isloate the sheep more, it is slightly distracting, but it also does make the second one look like a relief sculpted into a wall or rock. Fantastic timing, Joshua!

I liked the processing on #1...not sure about the processing on #2. However, the comps and action are all great!

As a CSU Ram -- I love 'em all!!! CSU CSU CSU

Agree with everyone: the timing of #2 is perfect. Nice work!

Fantastic fight shot. I guess he shouldn't have stuck out that tonque.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. On the head-butt shot I wish the bokeh was as pleasing to start out with as it was on the first photo I posted but the focal distance and zoom were a bit different thus the background was naturally a lot busier. Even though the BG in first versions above was blurred a good bit from the original, I'll submit to you a new look with these. Ironically, they have much more processing done to the BGs yet they may seem more natural to you (or not ). Color version also desaturated some with less vignetting compared to version above.

...And a new B&W version for comparison.

Paul, as a CSU grad myself, I also have to say: GO RAMS!

Really like that last b&w you posted. Nice work.

These are all sweeeeeet Joshua, but #2 and the re-posts rock. What a great moment to witness and capture!.

Yes, very nice stuff here Josh. I like what you have done with the backgrounds, but maybe less blurring of the grass along the road? The B&W conversion on the repost is definitely works well.

Great images! Great timing on the head butt image.

I am really liking the reposts...now the focus is on the main subject for sure!

Great shots and amazing timing. A little too much photoshop for my tastes, but a really great capture.

Great moment - liked the 2nd one , amazing !

Sweet! I think I prefer the original bckgrd over the blurred bckgrd, though.

Great captures Josh. It would be interesting to see the ramming rams shot without post-processing. The blur makes the rams seem disconnected from the background. The blur method also is giving you some funny highlights and shadows in the bg that it is pulling from the shading on the rams. I like Steve's recommendation too, to backoff the blur on the grasses to give some perception of depth of field. I like the vignette too.

John

As so many others have noted, these are some incredible and magnificent images you captured...lucky you for being there!
And as previously noted, they'll look even better with another (lighter) shot at postprocessing.

Great timing, Josh! Well done!

Cool series, Josh! I agree with Todd about the bg though--just let it be busy, i bet it would look better with minimal processing.