CHAOS DIGITAL /MARTIN ROEMERS RESEARCH

Martin Roemers was born in August 21st, 1962 in Oldehove, Netherlands. He is a Dutch photographer and artist. He studied at the aki ACADEMY of Visual Arts in Enschede, the Netherlands and graduated in 1991. For many years, he has worked on long-term projects that result in exhibitions and books such as Relics of the cold War, Kabul and The Eyes of War. His latest project is Metropolis, an exploration of the world's megacities. Martin Roemers' work has been exhibited throughout Europe, America, Asia and Australia. His work is represented in prominent public, corporate and private collections, among them the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Ford Foundation in New York and The Museum and The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. Martin Roemers has written two books, one in 2007 called Final Days of Production and another in 2012 called Martin Roemers: The Eyes of War. This book was about him taking portrait photographs of thousands of people who had lost their eyesight as children or young soldiers during the Second World War. This book features around 40 portraits of war victims from Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine and Russia. 

Martin Roemers, (2014), Piccadilly Circus, City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.martinroemers.com/work.php?serie_dir=02Metropolis:%20AFRICA,%20AMERICAS,%20EUROPE&nr=2 [Accessed 30 November 2017].

METROPOLIS: AFRICA, AMERICAS, EUROPE

This collection of work was taken with a long exposure from elevated positions so that he could get a perspective looking down and to at the scenery. Martin Roemers created these photographs using a large-format analogue cameras and film. The images that he has created has the movement blurred but all the images are in focus. 'Just over a century ago 13% of the worlds population lived in urban centres, the United Nations predicts that by the year 2050, close to six billion people - 75% of the global population - are expected to be concentrated in cities. The UN has also designated that 28 of these cities now meet their threshold of what constitutes a 'megacity' defined as urban areas with more than 10 million inhabitants. 

Globally, one in eight urban residents now live in a megacity and by 2030 it is predicted that there will be forty-one of these over-loaded metropolitan centres around the world. Martin Roemers has been fascinated by the vibrant energy and mix of cultures living amidst this chaos, inspiring him to create Metropolis (2007-2015), a collection of 85 photographs in which he portraits 22 megacities across five continents.'

Martin Roemers, (2014), Victoria Embankment, City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.martinroemers.com/work.php?serie_dir=02Metropolis:%20AFRICA,%20AMERICAS,%20EUROPE&nr=0 [Accessed 30 November 2017].

This is a piece of his work that was taken at Victoria Embankment in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom and was created in 2014. I really like how the slow shutter speed make the people looked blurred. I also love how the people are blurred but the background and buildings are in focus. This collection of his work consists mostly of slow shutter speed shots to show how populated these 'megacities' are.

Martin Roemers, (2014), Camden High Street, Camden Town, London, United Kingdom [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.martinroemers.com/work.php?serie_dir=02Metropolis:%20AFRICA,%20AMERICAS,%20EUROPE&nr=3 [Accessed 30 November 2017].

This was taken in Camden High Street in Camden Town, London, United Kingdom and was created in 2014. I really like the position and composition of this shot because you have all the shops to the side of the image then all the out of focus blurred people in the lower part of the photo. I also really like how much colour is in the photograph because it makes it look bold and bright. The shops themselves are old and unique in colour but the different colour of clothing on the people add to the colour.

Martin Roemers, (2015), Jardins du Trocadero, XVIe Arrondissement, Paris, France [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.martinroemers.com/work.php?serie_dir=02Metropolis:%20AFRICA,%20AMERICAS,%20EUROPE&nr=4 [Accessed 30 November 2017].

This photo was taken in Jardins du Trocadero, XVIe Arrondissement in Paris, France. He create this shot in 2015 to go along with the rest of his Metropolis collection.

ANALYSING A STUDENTS WORK

FIRSTLY, LIST 5 WORDS TO DESCRIBE THAT WORK?
The work is very colourful and intense. All the different colours make the image look very bold and bright making the image look very creative and interesting. The light trails also make the image look very unique.

WHAT IS THE MEDIUM OF THE WORK?
The medium of the work is a portrait digital pigment print.

WHAT KIND OF SHAPES OR FORM CAN YOU FIND?
I can see lots of lines from the light trails. 

WHICH TECHNIQUES HAVE THEY USED?
They have used layering in photoshop to layer the light trails photo over the top of the portrait photo. Also I can see the use of rule of thirds in the photo because you naturally look in one of the golden sections. 

HOW DOES THE WORK MAKE YOU FEEL?
The work gives off a happy and uplifting atmosphere from the rich and vivid colours. 

MULTIPLICITY

Using photoshop I created both these images of multiplying/cloning the subject person. I shot these images set up in camera RAW but didn't adjust the image until they all were layered so that I could make them all the layered images look the same. 

When I went out to take the pictures, I made sure that I had an interesting background so that there was something interesting behind the subject. I shot the images with a tripod so that the frame was the same the whole time. I got the subject to change their position and move along the frame once I had focused and taken the photo. Once all the photos were taken, I then imported them into my computer and opened the into camera RAW. However, I didn't adjust any of the photos until they were altogether and I could adjust them all to still look the same. Once they were all opened into Photoshop I copied the second photo onto the first photo. 

So once all the images were opened up in Photoshop, I then copied one of the other images with the person in a different place and layered the image. I added a mask layer and erased part of the top layer to reveal the person below.

 

HYPERLAPSE

When you open photoshop, go to the file menu and open the first image in your sequence. At the bottom of the dialogue box, click on the image sequence box. Having your files numbered consecutively it will help a lot. After choosing the first image and clicking on the sequence box, clicking open will import the images into Photoshop as a time-lapse video file. If there are gaps in the sequence, then there will be segments of the time-lapse video with a black screen. 

After opening the image, a box will pop up asking you to select a frame rate. If you click the dropdown arrow will reveal a number of options. Usually stick to 24 fps for the cinematic look however, the frame rate can be changed later on in the editing process so this step isn't majorly important. 

Opening the image sequence in Photoshop will create a video layer, which is indicated by the filmstrip icon on the layer thumbnail. In order to see the video clip, go to window menu and select timeline. In the timeline, you can customise the duration of the video clip, watch a preview, or even add still images, complete with transitions. 

After making all the video edits or even if you make no changes at all, you need to export the time-lapse video. To export the video, go to file, export, render video. 

A STUDENTS WORK

FIRSTLY, LIST 5 WORDS TO DESCRIBE THAT WORK?
delicate
detailed
pretty
bright
colourful

WHAT IS THE MEDIUM OF THE WORK?
close up, landscape

WHAT KIND OF SHAPES OR FORM CAN YOU FIND?
shape of the petals and leaves

WHICH TECHNIQUES HAVE THEY USED?
close up, aperture, depth of field

WHAT KIND OF TEXTURES?
fur
hairy
water droplets

HOW DOES THE WORK MAKE YOU FEEL?
The work makes me feel happy because of the bright colours from the flowers and leaves.

RAW FILES

When you take photos in RAW and open them in photoshop, Camera Raw opens up. Camera Raw is a process in which you can edit photos before you edit it further in photoshop. With the majority of my photos I changed the temperature, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks and the clarity. I also increased the sharpening amount, radius, detail and masking to make the picture clearer. With the noise reduction I increase the luminance to make the image look a little softer. On some of my images I converted them to greyscale then increased the contrast to make the images darker. When I edited the image of the Shard with the pink sky, with the split toning tab I changed the Hue colour and the saturation colour to get the soft pink colour. 

In some of my RAW photographs I enabled the lens profile corrections to remove some of the vignette in the corners of the photo and also it removes the distortion of the photo. In the effects tab of camera RAW, I didn't change the grain of the photos because I wanted the photos as clear as possible. However, I did add some of the post crop vignetting to most of my photos. I didn't use the camera calibration, presents or the snapshot settings. Once I had finished editing the one image I saved them to my hard drive as 'tif' files but when I uploaded them to blogger I had to export them to JPEG files so that image size was smaller.