Futuristic City: Dynamic Skyline + Blue Lights Imagery

It's always intriguing when you blend fiction with reality. 

I had so much fun creating this imagery. Inspired by Perfume's Tokyo Girl MV, I decided to create a futuristic world using Yokohama's breathtaking Minato Mirai waterfront as the starting point. 

After changing up the hues of the photo, enhancing the saturation and contrast, and lightening the overall effect, I added in cool blue details across the image. Various versions of blue gradient lights are shooting down from the sky with little snow droplets spread across it. Small sparkles are also added across the buildings to spread more magic into the air.

Cotton Candy Sky and Palm Tree Dreams

The twilight zone. As we wait for the sun to set, we looked to the opposite side at these palm trees and full moon. I decided to have a little fun with this photo by adding in pastel pink and blue splatters across the sky (to resemble cotton candy), mixing and blurring it with different saturation and hues.

Dreamy Winter Trees and Pastel Pink Skies

One of those angelic wintry days at a hidden park in the city. Surrounded by rocks, water, wispy trees and a mostly cloudy sky, I decided to use this moment to capture the flowers and trees. I gave it a more delicate, pastel touch by blurring out the image and adding in some pink-peach hues and removing some of the saturation for a timeless look and feel.

Ethereal Pink and Blue Skyscrapers In the Sky

Life is all about perspective.

I see these skyscrapers all the time but wanted to look at it from a different angle. After taking and examining the photo closer, I decided to make adjustments to the hues by desaturating it, lightening the overall effect, and including dreamy pastel pink and blue shades to make the true details stand out on its own.

Enchanting Night Imagery: Glowing Fireflies Light Effect

Fireflies Imagery Part II: The dream: walking into a beautiful garden with glowing firefly lights along with jewel-toned colored plants and trees surrounding the area.

Nights like these are so rare...and often cannot be seen in city-like spaces. I decided to create my own magical, endearing scene to capture that moment. I darkened this garden, enhanced the contrast, hue and saturation and made other color adjustments to give the bright glow-in-the-dark look. I added in some firefly lights in the near distance to further elevate the fascinating scene.

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.

The Field of Sweet Dreams

After pausing on my walk, I gazed up and saw these feathery cirrus clouds as they moved swiftly through the blue sky.

Surreal Aqua Waterfall Imagery

A man-made waterfall at the Sun Terrace rooftop garden. Love the idea and design behind this unique creation--especially the airy aqua color! It glows and stands out in the distance. 

*San Francisco has a series of unique, hidden privately owned public open spaces (POPOS) sprinkled throughout the city that are worth checking out.* 

Inspirational Quote of the Day: Past to Future

Optimism, hard work, humility, passion, and curiosity will get you far and reach things beyond your imagination. 

Beyond Imagery: Blurred, Scenic Collage

Recently I started blurring out different photos--it gives such a magical, surreal vibe to a picture. I decided to use blur for the background of this collage. The original background picture was of a blurred garland decoration, but I decided to blur it out even more, letting the colorful circles stand out on its own.

Inspirational Quote of the Day: Dream It First

Figure out what you want to do--then take action and go for it! 

Whimsical Pastel World of Happiness

Trees and flowers surround the nearby mountains. I changed the tone and color of this and gave it a more pastel look to it. Light, soft colors give this image a dreamy, easygoing vibe.

Blurred Reality on a Freeway

Looked outside the window and decided to take a picture of this tree. The car was moving so fast that I got a blurred photo instead. With a light pink filter and some sun lens flare, this tree ended up with a nice, dreamy effect.

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.