Grogger: The first thing that comes to mind is Stalker Complete, it has a bunch of visual improvements but also some gameplay changes, though remains faithful keeping the original feel etc. There is a Stalker Complete mod for each of the games.
http://artistpavel.blogspot.ca/search/label/stalker http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-complete-2009 http://www.moddb.com/mods/clear-sky-complete http://www.moddb.com/mods/call-of-pripyat-complete The visual updates in Complete aren't going to blow you away but they do help. I vaguely remember running into some other texture mod but can't remember if one can install/merge more than one mod at a time.
There's also Absolute Nature though I haven't tried.
http://absolute.crommcruac.com/
Photo Realistic Zone 2 for SoC, haven't tried it either.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/photo-realistic-zone-2 Also there's the Misery mod for Call of Pripyat, it looks good both visually and aesthetically though it severely changes the game, for the better personally. Probably the best overhaul for a game I've played.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-misery Also I think you can use an ENB with Stalker, it can add some nice effects like SSAO, bloom etc. Doing a search for Stalker ENB will get you started.
Might be worth looking for a reddit sub for Stalker and asking there, may even be a sub for Stalker Mods.