Kenna and Levin Long Exposure Techniques

[Shailendra]

Does anyone know what techniques Michael Kenna and Michael Levin use for some of their long exposure pictures. In particular, if you look at the main picture on Levin's website (http://www.michaellevin.ca/), it appears to be a long exposure shot, but how was he able to get the water to look white? In fact, several of Levin's pictures show a very white waterscape. Additionally, are they doing lots of dodging and burning and using ND filters for their photographs?

Any info will help.

Regards,
Shailendra

[BarryS]

What you're seeing is a combination of the sky (bottom lit clouds) reflected in the water along with extensive print manipulation. Check out the Techniques section on Rolfe Horne's web site for information on how dodging and burning are creatively used for dramatic effect. Rolfe was an assistant to Kenna and he uses very similar techniques.

http://www.f45.com/html/mainfram.html

[sparq]

Thank you for the link, Barry. It's very inspiring indeed.

[Shailendra]

What you're seeing is a combination of the sky (bottom lit clouds) reflected in the water along with extensive print manipulation. Check out the Techniques section on Rolfe Horne's web site for information on how dodging and burning are creatively used for dramatic effect. Rolfe was an assistant to Kenna and he uses very similar techniques.

http://www.f45.com/html/mainfram.html


Thanks for the link Barry, this was definitely helpful.

[BarryS]

Glad both of you enjoyed the link. I'm a huge Michael Kenna fan and that was the best info I've found that gives a window into his technique. Once you have the negative, the work has only just started.

[Jon Shiu]

Hi, I looked at the levin picture and in my opinion it is a very long exposure at night/evening (or daytime with a strong neutral density filter). It is just accumulated reflections from waves. Kenna has shot many long exposure seascapes at night and I also have some examples on my own website.

Jon