Light, Shadows and Reflections Pre-work part 2

Following Directions, Michael Kenna

This image is a silhouette with backlighting. To achieve this effect, Kenna likely metered on the sky, not the trees or the birds. I'm assuming he metered there because the grey tones are in the sky and the trees, silhouetted. The mood in this image achieved through this metering is slightly ominous, however, the brightness of the sky lends itself to a more cheerful mood. Had Kenna metered instead on the trees this image would be much less interesting, the drama of the sky would be lost and the grey tones instead would be in the trees.