Tobacco Shop in Old Town San Diego

vipgraphx · Jul 31, 2012

On our recent vacation we stopped by San Diego for a few days to enjoy the weather. I went to Old Town San Diego to walk around and eat dinner. This is a tobacco shop
that is in the area of shops. I really liked the inside and wish I could of got a better shot but, it was roped off and I could not enter. There were also many people in line waiting to be helped. They were having a taste testing event there and though I am not a smoker I sure love the way that some of these cigars and tobacco pipes smell. Very cool place!

Inside

Note: I usually like to push colors but in this case I did not mess with the colors so it was more natural. I think with all the browns, reds and oranges it could get harsh with
more saturation. In fact I brought down the saturation a little.

tobacco shop old town SD by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

The back of the shop

old town tobacco shop by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

pixmedic · Jul 31, 2012

#1 is my favorite. very cool. I like a nice cigar every now and then. how wide was that shot? the interior is very sharp.:thumbup:

vipgraphx · Jul 31, 2012

I was at 14mm on a full frame camera. I had to crop out a little bit of the picture because there was a distracting person in the shot, not much though.

Sometimes I will add some sharpening to the photos especially because photomatix makes them soft but, in the first one I used the sharpening adjustment in photomatix the first setting just a bit of sharpening which helped. If I add sharpening I usually like to do it in photoshop where I can then mask out areas that I do not want sharp. Most sharpening methods are global so if you take it far in photomatix you can end up with an overly sharp image with no control.

Thanks!!

ann · Jul 31, 2012

Where is Old town in San Diego, I am going to be there for a few days and your images put me in the mood to check it out?

oops, i know, there is always google.

vipgraphx · Jul 31, 2012

Old town Is close to hotel circle san diego. Not sure what direction your headed but if you let me know I can give you directions.

I have some more shots I will post later of the place. I did not get as much as I would have liked to and with all us tourists in the way well it makes it even harder.

Thanks for looking 8)

Seefutlung · Jul 31, 2012

There are freeway offramp signs directing you to Old Town and I believe there is a train/trolley stop there as well. (A bit north of downtown.)

Gary

leeroix · Jul 31, 2012

that first one is pretty sick.

Steve5D · Aug 1, 2012

Very nice stuff!

Old Town is right near the intersection of Interstate 8 and Interstate 5. Depending on where you're staying, you might want to consider riding the trolley into Old Town. Parking is normally at a premium down there unless you feel like paying for it, which can be anywhere between $5.00 and $20.00 depending on when you're there. The Old Town Transit Center is just on the north end of Old Town.

There are a lot of places in Old Town which lend themselves to HDR. Check out the Cosmopolitan Hotel and the courtroom in the Whaley House; both very cool. Also, El Camp Santo Cemetery is very cool, as well. Sometimes you get "something" in your photos, and sometimes you don't!

Ann, when will you be in Old Town? I can always be talked into photo taking and a margarita at Fred's!

vipgraphx · Aug 1, 2012

Steve I go once 1-2 times a year to san diego and I have never had to pay for parking. There is plenty of parking just have to be patient and look around.
Next time I go I am going to san diego I am going to go down town, I did this time to the hortan plaza mall but I did not take my camera...the one time the whole trip I did
not have my camera..next time I will be sure to take it with me. another place I would like to go is balboa park and sea port village...there are others but those two come to mind.

Thanks for looking.

ann · Aug 1, 2012

Steve5D said:
Very nice stuff!

Old Town is right near the intersection of Interstate 8 and Interstate 5. Depending on where you're staying, you might want to consider riding the trolley into Old Town. Parking is normally at a premium down there unless you feel like paying for it, which can be anywhere between $5.00 and $20.00 depending on when you're there. The Old Town Transit Center is just on the north end of Old Town.

There are a lot of places in Old Town which lend themselves to HDR. Check out the Cosmopolitan Hotel and the courtroom in the Whaley House; both very cool. Also, El Camp Santo Cemetery is very cool, as well. Sometimes you get "something" in your photos, and sometimes you don't!

Ann, when will you be in Old Town? I can always be talked into photo taking and a margarita at Fred's!

thanks for the tip.

I will be there from the 24th -29th. I am not sure I will have the time to check out Old town as i am traveling with other people and the schedule is revolving around the usual stuff, sea world , zoo, ball games and heaven only knows what else

but I am keeping this in mind

that1guy · Aug 1, 2012

first one is really good but i think it could have used more cropping/tighter crop

Steve5D · Aug 1, 2012

vipgraphx said:
Steve I go once 1-2 times a year to san diego and I have never had to pay for parking. There is plenty of parking just have to be patient and look around.
Next time I go I am going to san diego I am going to go down town, I did this time to the hortan plaza mall but I did not take my camera...the one time the whole trip I did
not have my camera..next time I will be sure to take it with me. another place I would like to go is balboa park and sea port village...there are others but those two come to mind.

Thanks for looking.

Mall security will be on you like a bum on a sandwich at Horton Plaza. They don't permit photography. I know some people who've been able to do it but, as a rule, it's not permitted.

Seaport Village is a yawner for me, but you'd be hard pressed to find somewhere with more photo ops than Balboa Park...