Even for the finest resorts with the most magnificent natural scenery, it’s tough for courses to compete on the pages of the top magazines or the most popular websites. Photoshop has become the go-to tool for designers to bring that magical “And God Spoke…” aspect to their clients’ photography.

90 Degree Design is one of the best in the industry when it comes to bringing storybook artistry to photographs.

This featured photo was originally shot by Bob Dalto, one of absolute best photographers in the Myrtle Beach area. His work is amazing that it really needs to altering to be beautiful. However, you just can’t create lighting and conditions that aren’t there. My aim with Photoshopping golf course images is bring brilliant and lustrous color combinations and contrasts that rarely happen naturally; as if we captured that perfect moment of the most brilliant sunset ever blanketed across the scene of the course. It’s important to emphasize as much as possible the deep variations of terrain on a course as carefully sculpted as the The Dye Course at Barefoot Resort. Therefore, using various treatments with the brush tool on a color blend, I have painted select areas to draw attention to the changes and elevation and how they would catch light in such a sunset.

The sunset itself was pulled out of a digitally rendered image and hand-blended into the treeline using layer masks.

Lastly, the hue of the water feature was punched up to add that extra pop of color and coolness to the otherwise warm color palette.

That’s it for this month’s homage to the great and wonderful Photoshop. The advertising and print world would certainly be a bit less colorful and brilliant without it.

Please visit the Digital Art section of my website to check out fancy Photoshop work and techniques.