Behind The Story of Naming Kubota Image Tools’ ActionPaks; An Interview with Kevin Kubota

If there’s one thing that we know, love and use everyday to polish our images (and frankly overnight elevated our business to where we wanted to go), it would be the Kubota ActionPaks.  They basically rule the earth and when we approached Kevin and his team to do a feature on them, they said, “heck yeah, how can we help.”  Really, I was just curious on the behind-the-scenes, neverbeforetold stories on how the naming of the actions came to be and what Kevin’s personal favorites are.

KIT and team have been there from the very beginning supporting us in our business growth, whether in product or our affiliate relationship.  The team collaboratively have the biggest smiles and hugs around.  So this post is not only about getting some funny stories out of them but also saying thank you to a long-term relationship that has helped us prosper.  THANK YOU KIT!!

Kevin’s Interview:

1) What was KIT’s VERY first action?

Well, our first actions were all released together as a set initially, but one of the most popular ones that first caught the attention of photographers, even to this day, was a version of Lord of the Rings. I’ve modified it a bit since that first release, but it is still a classic and enduring look.

2) Naming the actions must be entertaining, how do you come up with the action names? Do you have favorite names?

It’s the most fun part of the process! I often name them after a movie or current fashion look that’s giving me a vibe. I like to name them by how they make me feel or I imagine how the look would translate into a savory term.

3) Is there an all time favorite action from your photogs? Or maybe top three that are must haves and #iusethisallthetime actions?

It seems as though the one action that consistently receives the most buzz and requests to be purchased by itself is KPD Magic Sharp. Some of the top pros keep it handy as a staple in their post-processing tool box, and we love it when trade show attendees “AHHHH” at it during in-booth demonstrations.

4) Name one action and a funny story about that action name and how it came about?

Okay, there is one called “Canon 1D Ultimate Perfection.” I created this one back during a time when this camera first came out and all the users were raving about its image quality. It was great, of course, but, being a Nikon user, I wanted to poke fun at them all with their fancy pants cameras. The action actually completely screws up your image (non-destructively, of course) and I even put a note in there that clarified it was a joke. We still would get calls from people asking, “What does this action do? I don’t really get it…”

5) What’s on deck for your next action pak? What do you see photogs moving toward in style?

We’ve had many creative ideas for pak themes over the years and with ongoing advances in Photoshop new tools become available almost every year that we can incorporate into new actions. We’re keeping our next action pak a surprise, but here’s a clue: They will be AWESOME ACTIONS.

6) Any plans on releasing another Borders/Texture Pak? Volume 2, maybe? (Can you tell we LOVE your textures?)

Expanding on our current products is always on our radar and with so many identifiable ideas and needs for photographers the real challenge is deciding what to tackle next. We would love to add a new collection of borders and textures to our Bor-Tex DASHBOARD but, even more so, we are working carefully with developers on a Pro version (like from our Action DASHBOARD) that will give users the option to access and apply their own texture files to their images.

7) If you had to pick one action, what’s YOUR favorite?

While I have so many fun and funky actions with great “looks,” the one I actually use most often, and couldn’t live without, is Digital Fill Flash. This is almost always a starter action that preps my image for more cool effects, but it is used more than any other – by far. I guess that would qualify it as my favorite. 😉

So, thank you KIT for all your awesomeness and Kevin for this interview.  We are proud to be affiliated with you guys and helping others find their creativity with these Paks.

Cheers,

Wendy

PS: Interested in the product?  Here’s more deets on Kubota Image Tools and their ActionPaks.