Black & white landscapes on the ice

It was a warm day (~0C) so I spent a couple of hours wondering around this area on the ice of Näsijärvi. I drive by this place almost every day (whenever I go to the stable or to my parents') and I've always thought I gotta go down there and take my camera with me. I was hoping to see a beautiful sunset, but unfortunately there were hardly any clouds so no colors.

I had a nice day out and I also met two wonderful dogs, an 11-year-old Belgian Sheepdog and the other was a 9-month-old black Labrador and my heart absolutely melted. I have a big soft spot for black labs in my heart. :) 

Anyways, here are a few photos from today. I thought they all looked much better in b&w. Let me know what you think. 

Serenity
I felt at peace when I saw this view; the soft hills of snow and the light coming through the trees,
and beyond everything this amazing horizon somewhere far far away. 

The Trail
I liked how the trail lead the eye to the small island (it's called Lassinlinna = Lassi's castle).
The sky was a little dull color so I thought it would probably look good in black and white. 

Landscape photography

Landscape photography is a field I've become more and more interested in lately. I've been reading a lot about it online and from the Digital Photography book by Scott Kelby (I love love love this book, as I have stated a few times before) and I've come to learn more about the importance of the composition. I've started to think about it more in general also, not just with landscapes. Often when I, an amateur photographer for two years now, take a landscape photo of something like a sunset, for example, I just have a horizontal photo with nothing in the foreground (the bottom of the photo), horizon and the (probably) colorful sky. They never have any kind of wow-factor and I haven't really figured out why. This has usually made me quite discouraged in pursuing landscape photography. But now I think I've figured out a big part of what has been wrong with my photos.

I've read a lot about the importance of the foreground in landscape photography and I've experienced a total change of heart with this field of photography. I feel inspired and I would just want to run out right now and find places to take photos of (but it's midnight at the moment, so I think I won't).

Here are a few links to some articles in dPS and LightStalking.com concerning the foreground in photography and landscape photography in general:

Pay attention to foregrounds

How to get foregrounds right in photography

Where to focus in landscape photography
Landscape photography for the serious amateur 

Here's a good example of what I mean when I say nothing in the foreground + horizon + the sky.
Not all that interesting. It's an okay panorama and all, but as a landscape photo, I've seen much much better.

Now here's when I really put some thought into this thing and ended up with, what I think is a much better photo when it comes to the "flow" and composition. And although I am a fan of sunbursts and lensflare, I'd want a GND filter to reduce those two a bit.

This is an old photo, but I think this has a good foreground too, although I don't remember having thought about it much at that moment. Otherwise the settings could've been better: for example the aperture is f2.7 when it's recommendable to have as small an aperture as possible (usually).

Winter beauty!

I went back to the beach today and I have a few pretty awesome shots for ya. :)

See larger

 Click the image for a larger view.

I love this kind of a weather. Cold, snowy and the sun shines. I can't think of anything more beautiful.

My school is over for this year and now I get to concentrate on enjoying the holidays (wait, that made it sound like I would have actually concentrated on school before today....). 

Obviously I shouldn't start any kinds of projects because I can't finish them. Like the 24 Christmas Songs -theme. Turns out, it's not too natural for me to post something everyday and I don't like to force myself to post. I doubt this will bother anyone, but just acknowledging it.