Yes, more on Kubota Actions

[agaimages]

So...Yes, I've given in! I got the actions all raved so much about! I'm

disappointed! They do no magic so many swear about. Over the time I've

collected free actions I have modified to my likening and those are the same, if

not some better than the ones from Kubota we all pay for.

 

I just wanted to share this with some newbies that might not have the extra cash

to spend on, so called, sophisticated tools I so long tried to stay away from.

Through out my journey to find my ways through Photoshop I've gone through so

many online tutorials and some freebies that looking at those actions I've just

purchased makes me think what do people see in them?

 

I could go on into a long rant about giving in to slick advertising hype but I'm

not...I just wanted to give heads up for those who don't necessarily have the

money to spend on various "bettering tools" to search the Internet and you can

find many similar effects that will be more than sufficient for long time, to

look at tutorials and learn your own way around it. That said, yes, those are

nice (ONLY NICE) and they still need to be worked on to make your own!

 

Not worth the money though, not at all....

[agaimages]

Sorry, all this was separated and got into one paragraph difficult to read... hope some of you can get through it though. Only my humble honest opinion.

[james d.]

But for a newbie or someone that simply does not have the time or desire, buying actions and

then tweaking them still save them from having to invent the wheel and their time is better

spent elsewhere.

 

If you are already a Photoshop maven then by all means you should be creating your own.

 

I'm not up on Kubota's actions, but I do have some actions that were custom made for me. It

now takes me two minutes to do things that seemed to take forever to do.

[agaimages]

James,

 

I never said actions (my own, free or bought) are bad?

 

I've simply stated that the actions I paid for (and those happened to be Kubota's actions) to me are simply not worth the money BECAUSE there are other ways of achieving similar effects be it with our own made actions or free actions that are all over the internet.

 

When I first started this business I've looked at work of others and always wondered "how was that achieved?" - many gurus were using actions (even more exclusively Kubota's actions). I was a poor student and did not have the money to spend hence, finding other ways of achieving effects that appealed to me. Over the years I've collected small but sufficient library of various actions that match or are better then the ones I just paid for - that's all I wanted to point out :)

[graham john miles]

You should give this site a try to if you are collecting actions:

 

http://www.atncentral.com/

[james d.]

Didn't imply that actions were bad as I stated I had some custom made for me.

 

My only point was that some things are worth purchasing for some people and not worth

purchasing for others.

 

I believe the real good ones are treated more like state secrets rather than made available

for any price.

 

I wish I had all the money back I spent on applications whose usefulness was short lived. :)

[david_schilling___chicago_]

I doubt that Kevin Kubota, myself, or the hundreds of other photographers that are happily using the actions on a routine basis share your opinion. The money I spent on Artistic actions Volume 2 is one of the best investments I've made over the past year.

[kemp_fant]

My experience is that they need a lot of tweaking and require a fair amount of PS expertise in order to achieve a desired outcome. So, for me, a good number of them were not that impressive "out of the box". But they taught me A LOT about PS that I didn't know, and I THOUGHT I was an expert. For that, I felt they were worth every cent. I have been able to modify them to suit me. And there are a few of them, esp the B&W, that were GREAT out of the box. For the record, I had collected a lot of actions from Action Central and other places over the years. They aren't the same. He is creative.

[agaimages]

Whatever tickles your pickles (and hundred other users)David. All I've said that they are not worth the money and there are lots of free actions that achieve same, similar or better effects.

This was towards people that are just starting and do not have extra cash to spend and should not consider...of course those actions are NICE but as photographer you CAN live without them, there's only few that I will use but those are certainly NOT worth the money. So for those who wish to have actions such as KK's and DONT have the money to spare - trust me you're NOT missing that much! ;))))

[jim hall]

Agnieszka,

 

To each his (or her) own. That is your opinion, and you're entitled to it. However, I totally agree with David. Although, I certainly don't utilize each & every action, they have saved me many hours of "tweaking" specialty photos. Yes, I maybe could have done them myself (I'm not a PS novice), but I choose not to.

 

Plus, as someone else stated. They (KK actions) make for a great learning tool.

 

Now both of us have shared our .02.

 

Happy Shooting!!

 

Jim

[byron_sanford]

Agnieszka,

 

What are some of your favorite non-commercial actions out there, wherether for use by themselves or as a starting point or building block for developing ones own?

 

Thanks!