all of my renders are done using blender and only rendered with blender render the only outside programs i have used "so far" for molding Makehuman (http://www.makehuman.org/)
an ivy generator (http://graphics.uni-konstanz.de/~luft/ivy_generator/)
and for textures
photo shop (i considerate cheating if you use it on a "final render")
texture maker (http://www.i-tex.de/news.php)
i taught my self basically all i know about blender over the last 4 years
(i have had no Internet till now)
if any one wants to know anething a bout my renders dont hesetate to ask