The City Glow-Up: Magnetic Lights at Twilight

Pylon Lookout Part III: Wait a little longer after the first magical start of twilight as everything darkens and becomes more vibrant. 

The last drops of sunlight remain as the city lights turn on. 

Featured in Flickr's Explore.

The Twilight Hour: Subdued Tones & Colors in Sydney

Pylon Lookout Part II: The twilight hour approaches after the sun sets. 

The colors become muted and soft but still bright enough where sights are visible. 

The clouds have higher contrast and are more prominent. 

The skyscrapers stand tall and get ready to illuminate into the night. 

Pastel Beauty + Sky Elements at Oklahoma State Capitol

Was enamored by the colors, the details, and the nature elements of the dome at the newly designed Oklahoma State Capitol.

The pastel colors, cirrus cloud paint strokes, and bold patterns make this a true vision to behold.

Vibrant Tulip Flowers at the Gardens

Bright pink, yellow, and orange tulips steal the show outside of the Denver Botanic Gardens. The impeccable arrangement and neon hues make these so much fun to view and photograph! 

Glimmer of Light: The Colors of Autumn

The best part of autumn is being on the lookout for vibrant fall foliage across different neighborhoods and cities. I particularly loved this set of trees - there's a bunch of these decked out in a row for a few blocks. With the sun lowering in the sky, the sun flare shined through one of the trees - making for a perfect capture!

An Ode to San Francisco Collage

All the sights and delights wrapped into one whole piece.

I captured a range of images of the famous city, from its cable cars to the ferry building to stand-out architectural designs and other outdoor spaces at night...

...and decided to compile it together into a nice, dark, moody collage with a mix of color-blocked designs, raindrop effects, and various textures to showcase the foggy city in a different light. 

Pockets of Flowers: Multi-Colored Origami Effect

From far away, these look like origami paper. 

I originally was planning to create a collage of flowers or a floral background image, but decided to switch gears instead and create smaller versions of those flowers to develop pieces of "paper" that resemble flowered origami paper. 

I played around with the layers, then shapes, hues and contrast to get these sets of colors. Later, I added in other cool filters to create a soft, texture effect, so it feels more like actual "paper" rather than just a flat image.  

A Palm Tree's Dream: Vintage Sunset Effect

Nearing sunset...the best time of the day. I was walking by the lake and just loved this view while looking back at the hotel and the surrounding palm trees, with the lowered sun in the distance. 

I decided to play with this a bit to create a vintage effect - with reduced color saturation, a slight hue change to create that dreamy yet mysterious vibe with faded pink and green-blue tones. 

Storm Clouds' Striking Colors at Sunset Collage

It was a humid, muggy summer day in the city after a downpour. The passing storm created some pretty shocking effects at sunset.

Rainbow Vision: Soft Waves and Clouds in Lake Waters

After a rainy turned sunny day, I took a walk around the lake and captured this nice shot of the water. It was a normal peaceful image and I decided to enhance it a bit with extra saturation, a change in hue, contrast, and an extra rainbow edge in the waves. I also added in some painterly effects to give it a nice, smooth picturesque vibe, resembling a painting.

Moraga Street's Exquisite Mosaic Steps Art and Design

Amazing work of art at 16th Ave and Moraga Street! These famous tiled steps are now a staple and a must-see in San Francisco for all locals and visitors alike. Hike up and down the stairs...or continue hiking upwards to Grand View Park for a breathtaking view of the western side of the city. Fog or shine, still a must-see up top.

Saturated Lego-Inspired Houses from the Mountains

From far away, this colorful, scenic view of houses look like they can be homes made out of lego pieces! From the mountains, I can see the entire neighborhood along with nearby parks, trees, and the distant city miles and miles away beneath all the fog. I enhanced the image with contrasting to sharpen the colors and hues of this picture.

Jack Early Park Color Blocked Collage

A cute neighborhood park calls for a fun collage! After exploring this small park in the Telegraph Hill area, I decided to compile all the pictures into a collage and add a color-blocked theme for it. I wanted a fog effect so I grayed out the background and included some noise to polish it out.

The Secret Garden: Exquisite Colors and Imagery

The animated drama 5 Centimeters per Second has some of the best and most creative artwork ever. Every time I create something, I look back at that anime's design for inspiration. The use of colors and visual imagery continues to evoke new ideas in my work and I particularly love how they depict reality with such a dreamy quality.

While editing this photo of a small bridge at a park, I decided to change up the hues and saturation with a range of pastel blue, purple, and pink colors for a smooth, delicate look and feel. A little bit of blur adds on to the etherealness of it and provides a mix of serenity and illusory to reality.

Sensational Skyscraper and Tree Light Illuminations

I love these lighted trees and wanted to capture it with the illuminating lights on the edges of the skyscraper in the background at the Embarcadero. And to keep things fun and adventurous, I decided to change the traditional golden yellow lights to a cooler, blue silver color base.

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.

Sitting On the Moon: Gaze Into the Horizon

Pastel Bubbles Part I: With the exciting Moon Festival and the Blood Moon spectacle behind us, I wanted to continue the theme by creating my own moon image: a soft, pastel version with transparent layers and shadows, with some added human aspect to it. I decided to add a mix of bubbles in all colors and sizes, a blend of noise, sharpness, and blur to create texture, and jewel-toned sunset gradient hues to enhance the vibrancy of the horizon.

Sparkle and Shine with Crystal Decor Imagery

Fun, bright crystal decor with translucent colors, iridescent tones, and remarkable transparency. Every angle you turn, you see different hues and reflections. I added some sparkles and gradient hues in the background, blurred it out, and enhanced the contrast.