Riding A Wild Mustang

Riding A Wild Mustang
by Kevin Kubota

If I had to pick a “signature” image, I guess this would be it. I created this image a few years ago and when potential clients see it on my wall I often get requests to do something similar for their wedding. I also get a lot of requests to show how to do this at my workshops, and we often will recreate the image with our models – using my own vintage ’65 red convertible mustang. I tell my students that this one shot has been worth thousands of dollars to me because of the weddings I seem to have booked, or the exposure I’ve had, because of it! I think people love this image because it symbolizes the wild, carefree, romantic dreams that they all have – like riding a wild horse, through the fields, with wind in your hair.

Don’t Try This at Home.

I originally captured this image at a wedding, while the bride, groom, and myself were walking back to the reception – having just finished our portraits together. I saw this beautiful convertible Mustang sitting in the parking area and out of curiosity asked the groom if he knew the owner of the gorgeous auto. “Oh, yeah, it’s my dads.” he said, “I used to beg him to let me drive it when I was a kid.” “Whoa!”, I said (because that’s what you say when encountering a wild Mustang) “That’s your dads? Do you think he’d let you take it for a spin now? We could do some great images in it!” He loved the idea and within minutes we were saddled up for our ride. Lesson #1, It Pays to Ask. Lesson #2, Don’t Tell Anyone That I Suggested You Replicate This Shot! It’s dangerous and irresponsible. But, for educational sake, here’s what I did:

1 Plan your ride.

To create an image like this, you don’t want to spend any more time than necessary sitting on the back of a moving vehicle, so plan your shots wisely. Discuss with the driver exactly where you want to go, how fast, how many passes, and what you’d like them to do while driving. I learned this the hard way. When we took off to do this image, we didn’t plan much because I figured I could just shout out directions as we went. Well, with wind in your face at 50 MPH, you can’t really do that easily. So,much of my direction was blown to the wind.

It’s also important to plan your camera settings that you will use. I suggest planning for a variety of effects to see what you like best. Being able to quickly cycle between your settings and shoot with each of them is important. You don’t have much time, and the perfect timing of wind blowing, lips touching, road rushing, and hair posing will be brief and elusive.

Here are some camera settings to try and their potential effects:

1) Medium ISO, Shutter Priority at 1/8-1/30th sec., no flash. This is what was used to create this image. A shutter speed of about 1/8th to 1/30th will create motion blur and a very natural, spontaneous feeling. You can expect some subject blur as well, but I feel this is acceptable – even desirable – for this type of image. Shoot several frames in a row to make sure you get the timing and sharpness just right. It helps to bracket your shutter speeds too, unless you know exactly what effect you want. The look of 1/15th of a second will change when the car is moving faster or slower, for example. Keep your finger on that shutter speed dial and adjust it up and down as you shoot to vary the effect. I usually try to capture 3 shots of each image – one each at 1/8th, 1/15th, & 1/30th of a second.
2) Low-Med ISO, Shutter Priority at 1/4-1/15th sec. with slow speed sync flash. Set the exposure compensation to -2/3 or 1 stop. This gives the effect of a blurred background and a subject frozen by the flash. Some blurring occurs around the edges of your main subject, which is illuminated primarily by the flash, but crisp details are maintained.
3) High ISO, Shutter Priority at 1/30-1/250th sec., with normal flash. Set the flash exposure to -2/3 to -1 stop. This gives a crisp, frozen, fairly normal looking image. This works best when you really want to emphasize detail more than mood or energy.
4) Med ISO, Shutter Priority at 1/15-1/30th sec. with slow speed sync flash for fill only. Set the flash to -1 to -1 1/3 stop. This will give a good balance between nice motion blurring and good subject detail without looking too “fake”, which tends to happen when flash is very obvious in the photo.

2 Buckle Up For Safety.

As mentioned before, all of this is theoretical as I am surely not recommending you do this without proper safety precautions. To get the right angle of view of the couple and enough of the road rushing by, I used a 14mm f4 lens (equivalent of 21mm on standard format). I sat up on the rear seat of the convertible, with the seat belts cinched down tight over my feet to attempt to keep me in one place. Select a very quiet, low to no traffic road with great scenery. Low lit scenes are better for drama and to allow the slow shutter speed for your blur effect.

Give specific instructions to your driver before you embark, and remind him not to burn out or slam on the brakes. Sometimes they get excited and forget you are clinging for dear life by the integrity of your shoes.

Buckle up for safety!

How this image was created:

In this image, I used ISO 400, F2.8, 1/8th sec., a 14mm lens (21mm with multiplication factor), and no flash on a D1x. In Photoshop, I used my Smokeless burn action (from Kubota Artistic Tools vol. 2) to darken the edges and the distracting objects behind the seat. I then used Digital Fill Flash (from the same Action set) to open up some of the shadows around the face and draw attention to the subjects. I then used my Hollywood Intensity action (from Artistic Tools vol. 1) and reduced the opacity of the action layer to 50%. Finally, I added a simple keyline and border (from Production Tools vol. 1).

Got Actions? Use them even faster.
Everyone Loves Getting Action

Most professional photographers would agree that if you use Photoshop®, you should be using Photoshop Actions to save time and impart those ever-important best-selling looks to your images. Enhanced images sell better, no question about it, and the bottom line is we photographers look better and make more money. Great. But, even when we use actions, it takes time to beautify the images. And, as our collections of actions grow it actually takes more time just finding the action you want to use! We actually have too much of a good thing! So, for those that are getting too much Action, the new Action Dashboard™ is the solution that comes with all Kubota Image Tools Action sets.

Find Actions Fast.

The Action Dashboard is a floating palette that can be invoked via a user-definable hot key. The user simply starts typing the name, or part of the name, of an action they are looking for. Instantly, matching results appear in the list and any found action can be activated by simply selecting it and hitting enter on the keyboard, or clicking the Apply button. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, you can select from one of the preset categories, like “B&W” and see all related Black and White actions. It also makes experimenting with new Actions faster and easier as a handy Undo/ Redo button toggles the before and after effect of the last Action ran. If you’ve been using Actions for even a little while, you’ll immediately appreciate how much of a time saver the Action Dashboard really is – in fact, you may find it difficult to work without it ever again!

Call up the Action Dashboard, start typing, and the results instantly appear. The Action Dashboard in Action. We’ll quickly walk through the steps to enhancing this image using the Kubota Image

Tools Actions and the Action Dashboard.
1) The original image:
2) I wasn’t sure which Action I wanted to use, so I brought up the dashboard quickly with my hotkey and selected the latest action set category - Artistic Tools Volume 4. I could then quickly browse for an action to try. I selected “Dragon Princess”. This Action gives bold, threedimensionality, enhanced colors, and a gentle romantic glow.
3) I toggled the Undo/Redo a couple times to make sure I liked the effect. Guess what? I loved it! So I continued and next typed in “smok” to instantly find the Smokeless Burn Action. I followed the instructions and painted around the edges of the image to darken them down and bring more attention to the legs.
4) Next, I wanted to sharpen the image, so I typed “Sharp” and a selection of super sharpening Actions appeared. I selected “Smarter Sharp with Edge Mask” (from Artistic Tools Vol. 2)
5) Finally, I typed “sloppy” and found the Sloppy Border Single action (From the Sloppy Borders Action Set). I selected a border and applied it.
6) Here’s the finished image:

I’ve been using Actions for many years, and I remember the days of scrolling through long lists of hundreds of actions just to find an action that I already knew the name for! If I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, experimenting was time consuming. Now, using my Actions is intuitive, fast, and fun. I find that I actually re-discovered Actions that I haven’t used in a while because the Action Dashboard makes it so easy to find and experiment with them. Give it a try, and you too may fall in love with our Actions all over again!

Kubota Image Tools is the creator of powerful and beautiful Photoshop Actions, Workflow training products, and professional photographic seminars. Learn more about the products and purchase online at www.KubotaImageTools.com .

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