The results, however, were underwhelming. The idea struck me as I was falling asleep one night to light the scene from beneath and that's when I thought up the floating lanterns.

Fortunately I remembered my idea the next morning. I modeled the lanterns in Lightwave, imported them to my scene and set up the lights. I have to admit that my first test renders really took my breath away.

I hope you like the results! I almost prefer this one to the day version...

BTW: The character on the lanterns translates to "cherry blossom".