Cross Polarising Photo Experiment
Today I’ve achieved psychedelic colours through cross polarisation in my cross polarising photo experiment. It’s really simple to do and doesn’t require expensive gear. All I used was:
- Canon EOS 400D D-SLR Camera (any camera can be used)
- The standard 18-55 kit lens that came with the camera (the only lens that fitted my polarizing filter
- Hoya Polarizing circular filter (can also use a normal polarising plastic or your polarised glasses)
- LCD monitor
- Some see-through tupperware and straws (you can use almost anything made of plastic)
Here are the results:
The beautiful red colour in this abstract photo comes from full polarisation through a set of tied together straws, using an LCD monitor with a red background as a background. The photo has not had any post processing. 55mm, Aperture: F5.6, Shutter: 1s, ISO: 100
Another shot of cross polarized straws with a wide aperture. You can see the straws' bends are in focus. The photo has not had any post processing. 55mm, Aperture: F5.6, Shutter: 1.6s, ISO: 100
This colourful abstract is actually a tupperware lid setup between the lens and a white background on the LCD monitor. The lines in the bottom left are actual scratches, as this lid has been used many a time! 55mm, Aperture: F5.6, Shutter: 1/6s, ISO: 100
You can find more great shots by going to my smugmug. They’ll work very well as desktop backgrounds!
If you’re interested in how these photos were taken, see the shots below which explain how it’s done:
1. Get a polarisation filter or plastic and fix it to your camera lens. When you use the polarising filter against a polarising light source (In this instance an LCD monitor), you get cross polarisation and the filter can actually block out the light from the LCD monitor.
2. Setup your camera on a tripod and direct it toward the monitor, using a white background. Setup a plastic object (in this case a tupperware lid) in between the camera and the LCD monitor and you've got your experiment all setup! Now twist your polarising filter to get different effects as seen in the photos above and on my Smugmug.
3. Now you're setup, start experimenting with different objects and different colour backgrounds! This is the setup for my straw shots, where I used Scotch tape to attach the straws together.
You don’t need super gear to carry out this experiment, so nothing should stop you from running to the shop to get some polarising plastic and try this yourself! Please let me know if you’re carrying out the same experiment so I and other readers can see your creative routes.
Photo Experiment: Macro Photo Studio
In the end the Macro Photo Studio cost me as little as £3 (not counting the £5.20 I paid in parking and the petrol…). I managed to source the cardboard box from the office, tracing paper (or bakin parchment) from the kitchen, and scissors, carpet knife and tape from the cupboard.
In the end it was the background that would make or break the scene. Getting hold of those polystyrene boards was invaluable as you’ll see from the photos.
Looking through the house, I found a few interesting things I could use… Just like last time I used the 70-200mm F4 lens. I tried to source a macro lens, but not possible unfortunately.
In order to get as much detail as possible, which I got with a narrower apparture in my Aperture Experiment, I set the camera to aperture mode at the maximum of F32 and ISO 100. The variable was then the shutter speed.
Different Light Settings Shooting My Canon 18-55mm Lens
Firstly my kit 18-55mm Canon lens which I’m thinking of selling and replace with a better one – I don’t use it anyway. I took three different shots:
- Light coming from the left and right side of the light tent (left)
- Light coming only from the left (middle)
- Light coming from the left and top (right)
The photos below have not been altered. If wecompare this to the Orange Photo Experiment and Aperture Photo Experiment, it’s amazing how great it looks without any alterations!
Left: Light from left and right - Middle: Light from left only - Right: Light from left and top - Aperture: F32 for all, Shutter Speed: 4, 5 and 5 (from left), ISO 100
The left and middle photographs look good with a really nice reflection in the polystyrene, but I must say I’m the most impressed with the effect of the top-down light effect creating a natural gradient where the board is bent. This is the kind of stuff you usually generate in Photoshop and try to make natural – with this method it’s already there. In the end, whichever picture I use when I sell the lens, I think it’ll make it more desirable than a normal photo like I used to take.
Beany Pig on Black Background
Why not photograph some fun things as well? I found this pig lying around and figured it’d make a nice subject for a test on the black background. The conclusion is: If you want to find out how much dust you actually have on your lens/sensor, take a picture against a plain background. I was shocked and will definitely need to clean the lens. This picture has had some dust removed and had a slight Level tweak. Other than that this is as it was shot.
Beany Pig on Black Background - Aperture: F32, Shutter Speed: 1.3s, ISO 100
The bottom line is I like this shot because it’s a fun subject exposed in my opinion really well. You also here have the gradient background, which gives it the extra edge.
The Pillars of Love
The idea for this shot is how love sometimes can be built on unstable foundations. I bought these blocks in Portebello Market in London a couple of years back as decoration for the living room. My girlfriend said I’d never find a use for them, but you were (for once) wrong sweetheart.
This is without doubt my favourite picture out of the set. It was really difficult to get the light correctly setup to give reflections so that you can clearly see that it says “LOVE”. Because the letter blocks were very dark against a very bright yellow background, it also required some post processing but only on the levels, brightening it up.
Pillars of Love - Aperture: 32, Shutter Speed: 1s, ISO 100
I love it! If you ask me it looks more professional than any shot I’ve taken before (in my opinion anyways). I’ll definitely be doing more macro shots, next time possibly with some movement – How about the love tower falling down? Will have to reduce the shutter speeds then 
You can see the photos at Torstein Langeland Photography on Smugmug. You can also see what the Macro Photo Studio looks like externally by going to previous posts Professional Make-Shift Macro Photo Studio and Macro Studio – The Making Of…
Photography Experiment: Photograph Light, Not Objects
I figured I’d experiment with some light this morning so I setup my own little make-shift studio in the study. This is the setup, it’s quite simple! Just need the camera, some white paper, a few lights (scavenge the house, your partner will love you for it), and some reflective surface.
Make-Shift Studio
As I don’t have a fancy macro lens I used my Canon 50mm F1.8 on my tripod. I set the camera to aperture mode and F22 to get as much depth as possible. This is the result, not very exciting! Just used the study lamp and no flash or reflective surfaces.
The First Shot
Realising that you need alot of light to make it work I set all 4 ceiling spots towards the orange (you can see it on the shadows). I also brought the standing light from the living room to as a reflective light to give the orange some shine (the strongest light we have)! With this picture we’re moving towards something that potentially can look good, but the shadows are all too much and very firm. Need to spread and soften the light!
The ceiling spot lights gave quite sharp shadows!
So how could I soften and spread the light? Many people use light tents and I’ve read articles on how to make them. But I figured why not use a reflective surface like kitchen foil? That should give a good spread. I also started using the flash and on the shot below this is directed into the kitchen foil to not be too direct. After some experimenting I managed to produce the image below, which technically does the right things (I think): Provides shine to the orange and no hard shadows.
Finally got it somewhat right, but still quite boring!
Still not too exciting though! But then again I don’t believe professional studios can get away from doing some fixing in Photoshop or Lightroom or whatever. Althought it’s sharp it could still be slightly sharper (is it the lenses fault? Shouldn’t be any camera shake).
The next step was to bring it into Photoshop. I used the Dodge tool to whiten the grey areas around the orange. I changed the levels just slightly so as to make it a little brighter and then used the sharpening tool to just improve it that little extra. This is the result:
How about this? Photoshopped and ready!
Didn’t spend too much time on the Photoshopping, but I think the result isn’t too bad. Just needs cropping and inserting into a fruit magazine 
. I got some more examples in my smugmug, so check it out.
