As far as trickery goes, I felt as though Steichen did a fantastic job in bringing the viewer to a world that is far different from where the photographer is actually standing.  He makes the viewer believe they are standing in a in an enchanted forest. In reality, Steichen was probably standing in a thin patch of woods in some suburban town in New York with plenty of activity, and life happening in and around the town. This would make for quite the unhappy fairy chaser as he walks through the woods in search of Tinkerbell, or the or elves of Mordor. The viewer's eye is lead directly to the near center of the photo—the sunset. This in turn leads the viewer's eye up and down as he examines the trees and their reflection in the water—a reflection of other-worldly status.

Alfred Stieglitz's Hand of Man photo impressed me. What really makes this photo so striking, is the sky. Here you have this hippy-ish photo about man coming down on the earth with his hand, and smacking it. Stieglitz captured the filthy smoke coming out of the train shooting up into the contrastingly whiter sky, to show the damage. It's like when directors purposely have their actors wear a white shirt to bring out the blood stains from an action scene. Things like this are done to intensify the visual. Also, if one were to pay attention to the cloud formations, it almost looks as though the clouds take on a lightning bolt effect. It looks like the apocalypse is minutes away from starting.