Iron Bars

[Ethan]

Is he looking in or looking out?

Is he in despair or in relief?

Should we cry or rejoice.

It is only some iron bars which are always in the midst of our mind

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Exemplifying with a picture might help?

[Frank Fremerey]

A blurry face like this has some threatening undertone ... like bad dreams or a hunch of death

[Ethan]

A blurry face like this has some threatening undertone ... like bad dreams or a hunch of death

Yes. You can see Dispair or Hope.

Is he fading away in oblivion or embracing freedom?

[Erik Lund]

Very strange shot,,, The almost wet look from the flash - The curved shadow reminds me of a shadow from a lens hood when you use the build in flash, so takes away the focus,,,

[elsa hoffmann]

In the dungeons - awaiting death..

[Ethan]

Exemplifying with a picture might help?

Browser glitch.

Very strange shot,,, The almost wet look from the flash - The curved shadow reminds me of a shadow from a lens hood when you use the build in flash, so takes away the focus,,,

Strange is the name.

In the dungeons - awaiting death..

Or rebirth?

[stenrasmussen]

The picture has a hard time convincing me about its 'message'. I find the face out of sync with the rest of the image. Appears to me to be a montage and not a photograph.

[Ethan]

The picture has a hard time convincing me about its 'message'. I find the face out of sync with the rest of the image. Appears to me to be a montage and not a photograph.

Why should your interpretation be affected as to whether it is a montage or straight out of the camera?

As a matter of fact, it is not a montage but straight out of the camera.

[elsa hoffmann]

The picture has a hard time convincing me about its 'message'. I find the face out of sync with the rest of the image. Appears to me to be a montage and not a photograph.

I tend to agree with Sten here. The appearance is of 2 images - whether it is or not doesn't matter - what does matter (for me) is that the 2 parts looks "separated" as if the face doesn't belong in the image. But thats my opinion and my opinion doesn't matter if that is exactly what you wanted to create. It's called artistic licence. We don't all agree on what we see - thats why it's called opinions.

[Erik Lund]

For me it looks like two merged images, look and feel are very different.

[Ethan]

Well, this is how the shot was made.

Whether you like it or not is a subjective issue but there is no wizard digital effect used.

As I said earlier. The mind interprets what it interprets.

The shot is straight out of the camera and converted to B/W. Focus obviously on the iron door.

There is a reason why the face is blurred which an obvious focus point.

How the light affected his face is another matter. And there is the crux of the shot.
Think how the shot was achieved.
Think how could you deliver such shot.

Hint: How many light sources - what type and where positioned?
Don't overthink the lights. It is a simple set up.
To confuse you. Think maybe, HSS and maybe think front/rear curtain....maybe.....etc

A composite, it is not. Man behind the bars was exactly in this position.

Good Luck