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Many of us are accustomed to using circular polarizing filters on our lenses. They’re useful for enriching colours in landscapes – especially blue skies and foliage – and invaluable for cutting through reflections or atmospheric haze. But polarizers aren’t just for lenses. Something magical happens if we polarize our light source too. This is called cross polarization, and the technique is simple. We need both the light entering our camera and the light emitting from our source to be polarized light.
• Read more: The best polarizing filters
It’s a classic technique that has many uses, both practical and creative. Cross polarization can result in photos with zero reflections and glare, which makes the technique useful for practical things like dental photography, because eliminating the glare allows for a clearer picture of the shape of a person’s teeth. But if you want to get creative, it also allows you to capture otherworldly colour spectrums.
Captured under cross-polarized conditions, any hard, clear, plastic objects – like the plastic champagne flutes here – are transformed into vivid, rainbow displays of colour. This is a wonderful project to try at home, and you probably have everything you need to get started already. As well as a polarizing filter for your lens, you’ll also need a polarized light source. Most LCD screens emit polarized light, so it’s fairly easy to get set up in front of a laptop or, for more wiggle room, a large TV. The only other thing you need is an array of hard, clear, plastic objects and a surface to place them on, like a piece of Perspex or glass. It takes minutes to set up, but offers hours of spellbinding enjoyment with your camera.
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