The Mix: Palm Trees & Gradient Skies at Sunset

Huntington Garden Part VII: The radiant moon shines nearby as the sun completely disappears from view. 

The sky resembles a gradient background with the soft blue afternoon hues drifting further and further away, being replaced with muted pink and purple hues.

Purple + Green Aurora Background Gradient Effect

The glowing, astonishing colors of the northern lights. 

Cool and refreshing geo wave gradient effects.

Mix it all together and you get an epic graphic background. 

Faded Hexagon Art: Pastel Bubbles Background Effect

Fun background designs, faded effects, and soft yet bright, pastel colors continue to awaken our senses. 

I was inspired by the creative, painterly digital art from a manga and had to create my own rendition of it, infusing my favorite colors and blending in different textures. 

The Sapphire Blue Skies at Twilight

Once you leave golden and blue hour, you're left with the last few drops of twilight, some semblance of gradient color in the sky before all becomes dark. 

This part is the most magical--waiting for the natural light to slowly fade, skies darkening, artificial lights gleaming in the distance. 

Blue-Green Snowflakes and Sparkles Imagery

 'Tis the season! 

I decided to create a snowflakes design by combining a range of snowflakes, adding extra sparkles, diamond effects, and extra glow to a blue-green gradient background to jumpstart the holiday month. 

Pink to Blue: Ethereal Moon and Stars Imagery

As always, I love Little Twin Stars and am obsessed with their pastel colors, gradient backgrounds, and celestial stars and moon artwork. I was inspired recently to create imagery around this. I made the moon the main focus point for this and sprinkled stars and sparkle effects throughout the background. 

In general, to keep images from looking too 2D or falling flat, I like to add in other effects to bring in some type of texture to the backgrounds, especially after adding in a gradient. For this piece, after adding in the pink to blue gradient in the background (with mixes of pastels and brights), I also used a couple special effects to include other types of patterns to it. 

The Sunlight Shines Through: Hints of Wonder Reimagined

Letting the light stream through all of the redwood trees~

I wanted to create a pastel imagery with streams of light and trees all mixed together. This original photo had pockets of sunlight shining through but I wanted to add more to the imagination. I also included a nice, subtle peachy salmon and aqua green gradient across the background to further enhance the dreamy quality.

A Million Miles: Pier 7 Walkway Bursting with Clouds

Pier 7 Walkway Daytime Part II: What a dream. Walking across the pier a couple hours before sunset with a partly cloudy sky. These cumulus clouds shined so brightly with the sun blaring out from above, creating some pretty cool effects. I decided to add in some light red gradient filters to create a vivid contrast from top to bottom.

Magnificent Walkway: Colorful Gradient Imagery

Pier 7 Walkway Daytime Part I: One of my favorite spots in the city that offers the best views of downtown San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, and surrounding waters.

After taking this image, I decided to add in a faded gradient filter effect with partly saturated colors. The blue and red hues add the perfect contrast to this, offering up a warm yet cool vibe--the best contradiction.

Soft Pastel Waves: The Gradient Effect

Going to the beach an hour or so before sunset is one of my favorite times to capture photos of the water, especially since you get so many different ranges of hues and textures from the direct reflections right off the sky.

I wanted to experiment more with this beach photo by adding a soft gradient touch to it--the result is a calming water pic with peach, pink and turquoise strokes of color and light.

Glowing Gold Stars and Sparkle Gradient Imagery

I'm constantly getting inspired by cool magazine layouts and designs and decided to create a dark pink and purple gradient background piece filled with glowing gold stars all around (as seen from one of my favorite mags)! I added in some sparkle effects to really let the stars shine.

Stairway to Heaven: Blue-Green Gradient Imagery

Believe it or not, this is actually an art piece from a museum.

I saw this and immediately had to capture it before closing time. I loved that these stacked pieces of glass resemble a stair case and have blue-green gradient hues.

After looking at it for a while, I knew I had to do something with this photo and change up the background. Since it resembles stairs...why not make it a stairway...to heaven? That's where the picture perfect saturated blue sky and clouds photo come into play, adding that finishing touch.

Dancing Dolphins, Shining Moon, and Sparkling Stars

Inspired by Little Twin Stars' pastel imagery and designs, I decided to use a similar background color--a mix of pink, purple and blue gradient--mixed in with moon and star elements. I added in some dolphins to this, along with water, houses, and flowers as a backdrop to create a fantasy-like reality of a city.

Sparkling Aqua and Coral Snowflakes Imagery

I was cleaning out my closet and was inspired by my aqua snowflake t-shirt--the color, the texture, the snowflake design--so I decided to create an image based off of that. Aqua and coral are one of the best color combos so I used that as the main gradient for this picture. I also added various snowflake designs and sizes in gray and white hues. Last but not least, I wanted to give it a sparkly effect and add extra emphasis and uniqueness to the snowflakes, so noise, shadows, and a mixture of textured colors are a must.

Pastel Pink Palm Trees: The Diamond Effect

Rows and rows of palm trees decked the waterfront. I added a blurred pastel pink effect along with transparent diamonds to incorporate a mysterious, dreamy feel and mimic the effortlessness of long summer days.

The Star Wand Sparkles Effect

I've had this wand for the longest time and was inspired to create a layout filled with some sun-flare and sparkles on top of a blue-green and bold orange gradient background.