House on Haunted Hill...

Well the big house that is. This is a 3 shot HDR image of Alcatraz in San Francisco CA. The HDR image was converted to Black and White, Lightning was added via Alien Skin Xenofex, and a texture of a wall actually from Alcatraz was overlayed.

All these together gives the image an old horror film look to the image, which we felt was appropriate for the prison. If you are ever in San Francisco consider taking the tour, interesting history and a great audio tour. Also if you happen to be lucky and be on the island on a clear day you get beautiful views of downtown San Francisco.

If you would like to see a full resolution version of this image, or would like to purchase it, please go to our website at stoutandstout.com

Photographing San Francisco

We have two very good recommendations for books on photographing San Francisco. The first is called
 Photographing San Francisco Digital Field Guide by Bruce Sawle. This book is nice in that it gives you suggestions on some great places to photograph, ideal times to shoot, maps, and equipment you might need.

The second one is called  The 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco by Matthew Bamberg. This book is similar to the other, it gives some other places to visit, and this book also tells you how to get to each place via driving or public transportation.

Both are very good books if you are visiting and would like to find some places to go and/or photograph, or even if you are a local.

If Your Going To San Francisco...

Be sure to visit Coit Tower. Coit Tower on top of Telegraph hill offers fantastic 360 degree views of San Francisco, and the best part is it's very cheap to go to the observation deck. This picture is a 3 exposure HDR image, shot on a very clear day in San Francisco. On this side you can see the TransAmerica Pyramid in the center of the frame. Though it can be a challenge to take a picture up there with the glass and reflections, a little post processing gets you a beautiful picture.

Go over to our website stoutandstout.com  to see a full resolution image. This shot as well as many others are available for purchase as well.

Alcatraz Ruins

We have a new image on our website stoutandstout.com

This is a HDR image of the ruins of the Warden's House at Alcatraz. The house burned down during the occupation of Alcatraz by American Indian's after the prison closed. If you are ever in San Francisco you should take the Alcatraz tour, interesting history with a great audio tour. Also on a nice day you get a great look of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Go over to our website if you would like to see the unwatermarked version or would like to purchase this image.

Amazing Grace

We have a new image at our website stoutandstout.com ,

The inside of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California. This is a very beautiful and massive church. The inside of the church is so amazing, it really makes you feel tiny. If you are ever in the area go inside and take a look.

Go over to our website to see the non watermarked image or to purchase if you like.

City Lights

Just uploaded to our website stoutandstout.com , we took this picture at Pier 7 in San Francisco. This is a very beautiful photo spot day or night. This is a three exposure HDR image, in the background you can see the famous TransAmerica Pyramid. Go over to our website to see the non watermarked image or to purchase if you like.

Textures

Textures, what are they? Well they are images such as brick walls, stucco walls, wood, trees, etc... pretty much any image that is a close up shot like the one below:

With these types of images you add them to your images via layers to create something interesting. You can go with on texture, or you can go with multiple textures in each image. Take a look at the image below, we took a picture of it in Las Vegas, in the Mirage outside of The Beatles Love show.

While the image is interesting with the colors and lines, we thought it could be better by adding some textures, below is a version of the same image with 2 different textures.

As you can see the image is a lot more interesting. So be sure to take close of pictures of any surface that may seem interesting to add to your photos.