The big horn sheep used to number in the millions between 1850 and 1900. Unfortunately, parasites, disease and modern city growth have dwindled the numbers of desert big horn sheep to 20,000 and about 45,000 Rocky Mountain big horns. In Arizona the total population across AZ for both desert and Rocky Mountain bighorns is estimated to be about 6,000. We were lucky enough to run into a herd of big horn sheep, complete with a number of small lambs.

As I relished in the joy of trying to photographically capture these beautiful animals, I was struck by all the tips I have learned over the years flooding into my mind as I framed and composed my shots.

With so many animals, I had to keep reminding myself to cut the clutter for clean shots devoid of distraction.

Maintain a tight frame, and check all the borders for any complications that might take your eye away from the subject. Avoid ‘butt’ photos and isolate the face and body. Try to avoid cutting off body parts. Though, when necessary, be careful of cutting off feet, heads, and ears, and maintain at least front half of animal, behind front legs or major joints. Be cognizant of post process cropping to maintain large pixel size for best sharpness particularly when enlarging images.

Look for gestures, cute faces, and action to make more interesting and inviting photographs. Make sure the animal is looking at you and you can see the eyes, straight on or profile. Use narrow depth of field (large aperture) to blur distraction from background.

I try hard not to spook the animal or change it’s behavior. Stop, look, and enjoy the encounter of nature’s wildlife and her habits, characteristics and mannerisms. Knowing these things helps to achieve better results at the next lucky encounter.

Give the animal room to roam, allowing space around the animal. It’s not lost of me that some of these methods contradict one another. That’s the fun of photography, despite my own guidance, ‘rules’ are meant to be broken. Different situations call for different solutions. Creativity and vision are in the eye of the beholder. When dealing with wildlife, it is difficult to create a perfect clean shot, so we must adapt to what we encounter.