Bighorn sheep composition

[Irondiver]

I'm guessing the comp on this should have left more space in front of the ewe and would have been better with both heads up? I kind of liked the shadows that's why I composed it this way.

[Doug Sundseth]

If the ewe were the only animal in the frame, I'd definitely agree that you would want more space in front of her. Here, though, the lamb is the star of the show. Almost regardless of the composition, my eye is likely to go to there in favor of any other subject. Given that, I think your positioning of the lamb is right for this photo.

The shot might have been better with both heads up and looking directly at you, but this version again focuses attention better on the lamb.

Given the available lighting and background, the only things I might do here are pull back just a bit on the highlights to recover a bit of detail on the flanks of the ewe and perhaps add a bit of a vignette (but then I probably do that a bit too much, so take that with a grain of salt.

BTW, when I saw this on Flickr, I was a bit jealous. It's a really memorable photo that I wish I had taken.