- This image is a (more) properly exposed backlit image. It looks to me like they metered on the front of the wall, because  it is a midtone grey. The mood is very cold and moody, which you can see by the way the smoke is highlighted and so is the snow, and the urban feel with darker lighting. If the photo had been metered more as a silhouette the image would have had a less intimate feel, be less personal and the subject may have been more enigmatic.