Benz World Blog » Scotland

Edinburgh Millennium

Jason Benz — Sun, 30 May 2021 17:53:37 +0000

I rendered this for my 1000th Shutterstock image. The background is the Scottish capital Edinburgh, and the first photo I took with a DSLR. The text is created in Photoshop. This is my first 3D experiment as I have been using a non-3D version of Ps for the last 12 years. It is unlikely I will use 3D too often as it is at the limit of what my new laptop can do. While rendering it uses more power than it can draw from USB-C, so it drains the internal battery too. After a few renders, you risk running out of power during a render, even though it is plugged in. I just read USB-C plans to upgrade its max power output from 100w to 240w. This would fix this issue. After waiting 12 years to upgrade my laptop, it would be my luck that it is outdated 3 months after getting it. I am still pleased with the XPS-17. The screen is amazing. When you work somewhere with 360-degree windows it pays to have an extra bright non-reflective screen.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Glen Innes

Jason Benz — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 03:32:54 +0000

This is the town of Glen Innes in New South Wales, Australia. It is twinned with Pitlochry in Scotland, UK. I suspect there have been a number of Scottish settlers, since many of the places in the area have Celtic names.

This shot was taken in what photographers call the golden hour. This is the hour before sunset or after sunrise, when the light is warmer, and it is easier to balance the exposure between the sky and the land.

We left Sydney on Monday and spent our first night camped at Burning Mountain. It was assumed to be volcanic, although when geologists investigated it was discovered that the smoke was due to an underground coal seam, which has been burning for thousands of years.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Scottish Longhorn

Jason Benz — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 19:38:08 +0000

This is a Scottish Longhorn Highland Cow, although it looks like a creature from Star Wars. As it came towards me I had to tell remind myself this is only a herbivore despite looking more dangerous than all carnivores I have photographed. This shot was taken last winter near Grantham in the UK.

We are over the worst of the jet lag from travelling back from Australia and plan to walk to a pub in Granchester tomorrow.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is be available for download here.

Edinburgh Lights

Jason Benz — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:56:08 +0000

This is my submission to VFXY’s weekly theme. This weeks theme is Lights. These are the layers I used to build up the image. The Hue/Saturation layer on top was needed to turn the traffic lights green. The auto white balance in the camera had decided they should be blue. It just shows you cannot always trust a cameras auto settings to get it right.