SOLD: Butting Heads

[Steve Robinson]

Not knowing where else to post this here goes. I'm chuffed to report that I've sold a print of "Butting Heads." I had it printed on canvas and mounted on a 12x18 inch stretch frame. I sold it to a stockbroker in upstate NY. Hmmm, is he expecting a bull market?

Steve Robinson - "Butting Heads"​

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Congrats!

Hi Steve,

Great news, I am glad to read this . Congratulations.

Cheers,

 

[Steve Robinson]

Thanks Cem. It's good to find that your stuff is appreciated.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I loved the picture as is! That sale is important. You deserve accolades! Congrats.

Asher

I still would love to see Bart and Cem work with SNS-HDR wizard's "potion" on this as the white of the snow and the dark tones of the bulls must have magic dimension in them that normal mortals, like ourselves, you and I, (without their spells and wands), cannot conjure up!

 

[ErikJonas]

Hi Steve....

I'm not trying to be an ass here...And i hope i dont come over as rude or any thing...But..And this just might be me and me alone...But when i see this image i cant make out the individual heads of the buffalos...They kind of blur into one i dont see the form or detail of seperate heads....I'm sure its much easier to see in the actual print and like i said i dont say this with any rude intent...Maybe my monitor is not light enough...I know LCD screens are much brighter thus easier to see maybe???? I'm sure its just the image size being so small thats posted here as to what i'm describing...The setting is awesome. Congrats on the sale...

I have a butting head shot of buffalo but its in the summer...

 

[Asher Kelman]

But when i see this image i cant make out the individual heads of the buffalos...They kind of blur into one i dont see the form or detail of seperate heads...

Erik,

There's nothing at all wrong with your eyesight or AFAIK, your monitor, LOL!! It's neither the eyes nor the monitor that need examining but the mind processing the information received from the two!

In some of the best art, the force of lines of movement, the context, history, reference to mythology, other art, song and our whole cultural experience are in the bookshelves of the library of your mind, but you have to have the facility and custom to reference them!

So in this case, we do not need to see the entire second head. I fact, we have already, mentally, crouched down behind and all around the pair looking at them in 3D space as they come alive with all the noise and fury in the arena for performance in the cathedral of our minds.

Some might even argue that the very bet art might on our brains' referencing its store of connections and then building for us numerous possible meanings, relevance and consequence to such a fight between two bulls.

I saw the same picture as you as you and didn't find anything missing! Art is as much about what is not there as what is shown. I hope this helps explain the paradox of such incomplete images that can still be successful!

Asher

 

[Steve Robinson]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I can see your point Erik. This isn't a straight on sudden stop collision which might have been a more dramatic image. Looking at this image again it looks just a touch too, I hate to say dark, but certainly not quite as bright as some of my other versions of this image. I must have a least a dozen iterations and I'll probably do some more. And Erik, don't hold back on your critiques. It's the only way I can improve my work.

 

[fahim mohammed]

Steve, congratulations. Let's hope the bull market happens and you can make a killing too!

Regards.

p.s Erik, the guy has just sold a print. The stockbroker did not hedge his bets. Head or Tail, Steve won
and we all rejoice in his success.

 

[ErikJonas]

Hi Steve...I see a horn and maybe a eye and thats it...I understand the variations and all...I cant see a individual head it looks like two necks almost blurring together....But as well congrats on the sale...I know how nice it is when one of my images sells for the first time...

I know things look differant on a monitor then the actual print and viewing can vary from one monitor to the next....I also know that proper viewing distance of a print like 12 by 18 is at ten feet away....

Love the image with the snow...I'd post my buffalo shot here if you'd like to see it but would not want to highjack your thread or anything...Its two buffalos tusseling like yours...No snow...Black and white but more with gray tones as SOME but not all of my B/W are.....

Where were these taken Steve?

 

[Steve Robinson]

Hi Steve...I see a horn and maybe a eye and thats it...I understand the variations and all...I cant see a individual head it looks like two necks almost blurring together....But as well congrats on the sale...I know how nice it is when one of my images sells for the first time...

I know things look differant on a monitor then the actual print and viewing can vary from one monitor to the next....I also know that proper viewing distance of a print like 12 by 18 is at ten feet away....

Love the image with the snow...I'd post my buffalo shot here if you'd like to see it but would not want to highjack your thread or anything...Its two buffalos tusseling like yours...No snow...Black and white but more with gray tones as SOME but not all of my B/W are.....

Where were these taken Steve?

Asher, I took this in Yellowstone on April Fools Day! If anyone has a buffalo or bison image, post away!

 

[ErikJonas]

Steve....I think you ment me not Asher...I'm going to reframe from posting any more images but thanks....I was wondering Steve the lens you used,distance and F-stop...

I need to learn all these things which i have not dived into...Learning for me is a bit challenging i am classified as learning disabled..I get really frustrated it takes so long to get something down....Much easier to listen to music lol....Music understands and helps one create....

Anyway....Just wondering the above...I assume you shot with a 300 mm or longer range as one does NOT want to get too close to buffalo.....

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Erik,

I'm not trying to be an ass here...And i hope i dont come over as rude or any thing...But..And this just might be me and me alone...But when i see this image i cant make out the individual heads of the buffalos

That's probably because one head is in front of the other.

But I think the new Photoshop can deal with that (its "Uncle Bert and the cow" feature).

 

[Steve Robinson]

Steve....I think you ment me not Asher...I'm going to reframe from posting any more images but thanks....I was wondering Steve the lens you used,distance and F-stop...

I need to learn all these things which i have not dived into...Learning for me is a bit challenging i am classified as learning disabled..I get really frustrated it takes so long to get something down....Much easier to listen to music lol....Music understands and helps one create....

Anyway....Just wondering the above...I assume you shot with a 300 mm or longer range as one does NOT want to get too close to buffalo.....

Oops! Erik, I used a Canon 1D Mk II N, EF 400mm f/5.6L, 1/1000s @ f/5.6, ISO 250. I shot this handheld out the car window as I saw it as I was driving along and I had just a second to pull over and then shoot. I didn't have time to otherwise get set up. I waited awhile hoping a couple of other bulls would go at it but no such luck.

That 400 f/5.6 is a very good lens for me. It is moderately long though often just not quite long enough, has very fast AF, and is light enough for me to handhold if I keep the shutter speed up. It weighs 1/3 and costs 1/5 as much as the 500 f/4.

 

[ErikJonas]

Steve I take it this is a prime?...Dare i ask how much a 400 cost? Looks like you had the perfect distance from it...

I know a guy who has buffalo..About 14 of them...Hes a Apachee Indian...So i have access to shoot them at any time...He lets them get with in 20 feet of them...The big male bull is huge i dont feel that comfortable getting any where near them....But have some very cool shots of them...I need to spend a day there..Usually its just a few hours at a time...

I have a picture i just took of Kaye with a (real) wolf skin,wrapped in it with the buffalo in the back ground...I did that with another model Jordan whos native and shes wrapped in a buffalo robe...

but those things get close and its just scarey...You can hear them breathing from a good distance...They are impressive creatures....

I only have my 70-300 Sigma..Its APO which i guess is some of Sigmas best glass...Its nice,also a macro lens....

 

[ErikJonas]

Here Steve...Sorry this is so small...This is Richard who i often call "Medicine Man".....

I had wanted to shoot the buffalo for so long...One day driving by he was out in his yard and i stopped to talk to him...Hes become a dear friend...I should probably post a bigger image of this but...

This is from 2008...I have a lot of newer ones that i just recovered and need to sort out and edit...

 

[ErikJonas]

I was'nt going to post it Steve but what the heck...Heres my buffalo shot taken in 2008 when i first met Richard and his wife who have bought 7 of my images from me....In the times i've been back i've not been able to get anything close to this....

This is a 5 by 7 crop not the full image...In the full image they are both fully in frame and theres more of the stump you can see on the one side....Gives you a idea though....I might re-edit it..

 

[Rachel Foster]

The subject matter is great, but it's grainy, focus is soft, and the back end of the left animal is cut off. It might be better to hope for another opportunity. Shoot at ISO 100 on tripod and that might help the focus. Go wider so the animals are not prematurely chopped.

 

[Steve Robinson]

The Canon EF 400mm F/5.6L is a prime lens. B&H have them for $1209. The more popular EF 500mm f/4L is $6049. I haven't bought one yet. Still just renting.

The guy standing next to that buffalo is waaay too close for me. In Yellowstone the regulations require that we stay 25m/yds from them. Often they are on the roads and when we stop they walk right by close enough to touch. Not me!

That's a pretty good head butt. I think if you had been had been about 30° to the left the smaller bull's head would've been partially hidden much like in my shot.

 

[ErikJonas]

The subject matter is great, but it's grainy, focus is soft, and the back end of the left animal is cut off. It might be better to hope for another opportunity. Shoot at ISO 100 on tripod and that might help the focus. Go wider so the animals are not prematurely chopped.

Rachel thanks but did you read what i said?...Its a 5 by 7 crop....The 8 by 12 has the animal fully in the picture...Grainy...Yes i added a film grain to it after the B/W conversion to give it a feel of a older picture.....Tripod would of been great but in a field of buffalo wandering closer and closer i dont have the time to set up a tri-pod but now that you mention it maybe a mono pod would be ideal for this....I take it you did'nt like the grain i put on it....Fair enough...My mom hates the grain but some people like it...As a 5 by 7 i have sold a few...

Does anyone have any exp. with a mono pod?

Steve...What most people dont realize is to touch a wild animal they see that as a act of aggresion...Like the guy who in Africa touched a wild elephant...They proceeded to kick the crap out of him......On this shot i was just in the right place at the right time...They are curious and will come very close....Richard has raised many of them and they know him well. He on that shot told me i could come closer but i said nooooo i'm good back here...Being calm was a key thing they sense fear and other things....He also told me what to look for if they get aggitated....

Steve...My lens selection is really limited...This would be another reason to eventually go to Nikon....

 

[Asher Kelman]

I was'nt going to post it Steve but what the heck...Heres my buffalo shot taken in 2008 when i first met Richard and his wife who have bought 7 of my images from me....In the times i've been back i've not been able to get anything close to this....

This is a 5 by 7 crop not the full image...In the full image they are both fully in frame and theres more of the stump you can see on the one side....Gives you a idea though....I might re-edit it..

Erik,

Having a cut out of an image is great to show off detail. However, unless showing that there's a dead body there or treasure I'd still find it important to see your own concept in the original pictures first! Otherwise we have no idea what the entire composition might be.

I don't need to see detail of the heads, although that's nice. I want the total idea and that means the original processed image the way you intended.

I love these pictures of these beasts. Imagine there were millions of them!

Asher