Benz World Blog » Skyline

Purple Skyline

Jason Benz — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 10:08:45 +0000

This evening skyline was taken in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. To process this image I wanted to bring out the orange lights and purple sky. I started by using HSL in Camera RAW to boost the luminance and saturation of orange and a smaller boost to yellow and red to avoid posterization. I reduced the luminance of the blues, magentas and purples to darken the clouds. Finally some green tint was added to reduce the strength of the purple.

Opera Evening

Jason Benz — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 14:03:05 +0000

The Sydney Opera House is a remarkably photogenic building, which is helped by its position on the water in the harbour. There is a clear view from almost every angle. If you walk over the Harbour Bridge you can even look down on it. This shot was taken from Mrs Macquarie’s Chair in the Royal Botanic Gardens

Brisbane Skyline

Jason Benz — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 16:07:56 +0000

We arrived in Brisbane yesterday. The stage on the left of the picture was for the Brisbane Festival City of Lights. We also saw a great band called Cheap Fakes at one of the festival stages on the South Bank.

This picture means I now have night shots over water of Australia‘s five biggest cities. In order of population they are: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide. As far as regional capitals go I am still short Darwin and Hobart but I have no plans to photograph these currently.

Circular Quay

Jason Benz — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 05:46:15 +0000

This is Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia. I used the HSL / Grayscale panel in the Photoshop developer Camera RAW. This allows you so shift specific colours towards its neighbouring colours. In this case I used it to warm up the street lights and push the blues towards the purples. I also added the green reflection in the water.

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

National Library

Jason Benz — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 03:42:43 +0000

This is the National Library of Australia in Canberra. Like most public buildings in Australia it has a very good licensed cafe inside. Coming from the UK I found it a little curious you could buy a beer in a Museum or a Library but not a supermarket.

Sydney Skyline

Jason Benz — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:12:21 +0000

We are back in the UK for a few months. I took this before we left Sydney on the same night I shot the Opera House. This image is one of a series of Australian Skylines which may become a calender someday.

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

Opera House

Jason Benz — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:37:55 +0000

This building needs no introduction. The Sydney Opera House grabbed my attention from the first moment I saw it. We approached it by walking along the equally impressive Sydney Harbour Bridge. We then followed the Harbour around via The Rocks and Circular Quay until we reached the viewpoint from the Botanic Gardens on the far side. After waiting for the sun to go down we walked back along the bridge where I took this shot. As you move around the building it seems to change shape and when night falls its character changes again.

Canberra Skyline

Jason Benz — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:07:40 +0000

No sooner than we crossed from Victoria into New South Wales we found ourselves in Australian Capital Territory. The home of Canberra and the seat of Australian Government. Canberra is an entirely planned city with the feeling of a university campus. The Parliament House in the centre is a low rise structure described by some as resembling a bunker covered with grass. In fact anyone can have a picnic on the roof. This image is one of a series of Australian Skylines which may become a calender someday.

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

Melbourne Skyline

Jason Benz — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 19:50:13 +0000

I took this shot of the Melbourne Skyline last night. As all Australia’s cities are on water I tried to get the same type of shot I have for Perth and Adelaide. Maybe I will publish an Australian Skyline calendar with all the cities in it. We decided to go in on a Sunday as it was the best chance to get free parking near the city. We parked near the Kensington train station and as it was a nice evening we chose to walk into the city. After taking this shot we wandered around the city for a while and found a very reasonably priced place to eat called Equinox. We are now back at our usual truck stop between Melbourne and Geelong and are making the daily pilgrimage to nearby libraries to use their free internet and look for work. I got a response from one today. Its a freelance photography position for the Australian National Construction Review. They seemed more interested in the quality of my camera and if it had a full frame sensor than if I knew how to use it. So its lucky I upgraded to a Canon 5D Mark II before I left for Australia or they would not have offered me the job.

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

Adelaide Skyline

Jason Benz — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:53:29 +0000

This is the Adelaide Skyline looking across the River Torrens. This is similar to the first blog I posted in Australia of the Perth Skyline. We have decided to spend an extra week in Adelaide as our van needs some further maintenance and it makes sense to fix it while we are in a city. We are waiting for a new air in-take hose to arrive from Sydney and our 3 way fridge only seems to work on gas. 12v and 240v no longer chill so its more like a 1 way fridge at the moment. The weather is very warm too.

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