It’s good to be the king. That’s what I was thinking when I was visiting the Alcázar de los Reyes Catôlicos (Fortress of the Christian Monarchs) on a beautiful spring day. There were interesting buildings, lovely gardens, and plenty of fountains. The King would have been able to enjoy it without crowds.

Alas, I am not the King, so I had to wait patiently until my various compositions were mostly free of people. (Photoshop helped me remove a few troublemakers!) I was inspired to experiment that day, both in-camera and with my post production. I love patterns and textures, and was able to capture both in this shot of terracotta roof tiles.In this image I cranked up sharpness and saturation, then eased them back down a bit to get this painterly effect.