Stills

That would have made the bull madder. He needs a place to go afterall.
 

Yes, it needs the space. That forward lunge is well caught. The only thing that bothers me, and it might be a feature of compression, is that there are strange shadows along his body, right arm and hand that make the rider look stuck on (maybe he was to avoid coming off!). It also seems a bit light - but that is an impression not a criticism.

On its own one might be lulled into thinking that this is done for the tourists but having seen the earlier shots it is evident that the whole way of life and agricultural practice supports a day out at a rodeo. It should be an interesting series.
 

John, I see what you mean re: the shadows....I took this under new circumstances for me. Action shots are not something I have much experience with. I had a fixed length 105mm lens on which needs quite a bit of light under a floodlit arena with a flash and at high ISO in a crowd of people also using flash cameras. I think the shadows are a result of one of those sources of light or, perhaps, a combination. Excuses, excuses.

The shot above is also the result of a run through NeatImage to combat some of the ISOness.

As an aside we were freezing cold, having forgot to bring any warm clothing (10pm at night). The Mrs. went off to find what she could at the rodeo tourist shop and I ended up wearing a Wyoming lifesaver sweatshirt with "qualified in mouth to mouth" blazened across the front. I don't use it much.
 

Looks like a nice lens. The guy must have been lit up like a Christmas tree judging by your description! Maybe some judicious cloning? It might, just might (and you would have to try), be better in its original sin state of the high ISO. Is it RAW? If it is then reducing exposure just slightly might help.
 

I forgot to mention the sweatshirt! Wear it more - you might start a new fashion!
 

The shadows caused confusion for me and I also felt the subject looked stuck on.

That said it is a good frozen moment.

I like the way his hand echoes the horns.
 

I guess it is difficult to avoid this sort of shot looking like it was taken from the audience - as that is exactly what it is. However, I feel that this leads to a remoteness - a sort of TV eye. It also gives you the shadow problems that you've noted.

I don't feel the noise, or the effort and fear, that I'm sure were present. And no, I don't have a clue as to how to have captured them!
 

The rider's back parallel to the bull's.

His right leg parallel (just) to the bull's front legs.

The rider's righ arm parallel to the bull's horns.

Both have their noses towards the ground.

The bull seems to be going right in the picture whilst its rider seems to be taking a drop to the left.

Plenty of space in front of them both for me to finish up the second shot in my mind.

This is a great shot with so much to be enjoyed in it that the shadows, pixels, noise, colours etc are a distant second to the extremely strong imagery the shot provides.
 

..."The rider's righ[t] arm parallel to the bull's horns.'

Forgot to add that the cock of the rider's hand matches the curve of the bull's horn.