Back Lighting Inspiration

Sally Mann

This landscape by Sally Mann is a properly exposed back lit non silhouette.  Mann likely took her meter reading from the ground.  This is because the sky is blown out, allowing the detail of the trees, wall, and ground to be shown.  This back lighting makes the photo glow, creating a calm and slightly dreamy mood.  If the photographer metered towards the sky, creating a silhouette, the detail of the trees and wall would be lost.  The shape of the trees would remain, but it is the details of this image that make it special.  If this image was a silhouette, the photo would still have some of its abstract qualities, but the intended mood would be somewhat lost.

The Impact of Photographs to Promote Social Change

Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) was an American and documentary photographer.  She is best known for her photographs of the Great Depression and Japanese American internment. This photograph was taken prior to Japanese American internment, in which children at a San Francisco public school are pledging allegiance to the American flag.  After Japanese American internment, this photo became a focus for the irony it conveys; the pledge of allegiance represents the freedoms all Americans have, however, many Japanese Americans lost their freedoms just for the sake of having Japanese ancestry.  This photo challenges the notion that all Americans are treated as equals.