Lights, Camera.

Yes, there are good photographers and bad photographers. I like to think that I fall into the category of people who can at least point the camera in the right direction and then I let all of the super-amazing auto features do all the rest of the work.

But I will say this (and my friends who actually make incredible pictures for a living can disagree with me), having something beautiful to point the camera at and the right light at the right time of day goes a really long way to making a photo look good.

Below, two shots from the Mosque of Cordoba and the Cathedral of Segovia respectively.