This is one of my favorite subjects. I take advantage of tourist stops in cities or towns to grab a piece of their history. Windows, doors with some history on them, stained glass, balconies — those are the kinds of things I like to shoot.
Even though the sun was already pretty high, I managed to catch that 16th- or 17th-century balcony in Almagro (Ciudad Real). That solid indigo on white leaves you with a postcard of the place's history. Edited for a color boost and to tweak the lights.
R10, RF-S18-150 at 35mm, ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/800, AF
While we were in Muros (A Coruña), we spotted an old fishermen's house, already abandoned, that kind of sums up the fade from better days. No doubt about it — the patina and the color are incredible.
For both, I used a wide focal length — first because I didn't have much room to shoot from, and second to grab more of the scene than what's in frame. Today's cameras let you crop pretty hard without losing too much quality.
Photonotes: and what's behind that crazy shutter-speed jump between the two?.
Well, see — on the first one it was that brutal La Mancha sun, and on the second, to dial in the glass reflections (I wanted to keep the neighbor's roof tiles in view for the texture they give the shot), I used a variable polarizing filter, which also eats a bit of light.