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.
Photographic Experiment: Effects of Different Aperture Settings
Education while having fun is great! My question is how does the aperture setting affect the photography? Photographers with some experience will know that aperture has a direct effect on the depth of field, but what other effects do you get?
I don’t have a macro lens, which is a bit stupid. Not deterred by that setback, I used the Canon 70-200mm F4 IS USM lens on my 400D instead. I set the zoom to 200 to get a real good close-up so I could compare the details. The object was a decorative candle, a gift from my dear brother and his fiancee.
The studio used is the one seen in the previous post, inside our living room cupboard. I shot a range of pictures with the same frame, with only aperture and shutter speed being the relative variables. To show the difference below I’ve shown two pictures; Left: F32 Aperture & 1/5s Shutter Speed; and Right: F4 Aperture & 1/320 Shutter Speed. ISO: 100
Left: F32 Aperture & 1/5s Shutter. Right: F4 Aperture & 1/320 Shutter
Initial Observations about the F4 shot:
- The F4 shot has a shallower depth of field (as expected).
- Everything except the in-focus area is darker on the F4 shot. While capturing enough light to make the in-focus area, the shutter speed doesn’t appear to be sufficient to capture enough light for the background. Any views on why this is the case are welcome! I’ll try to find out myself.
- The light feels more saturated on the F4 shot than the F32 shot, probably helped by the darker background and shallower focus depth.
With those observations in the bag, I’m interested to know which shot has the best details. I know that F32 will capture a greater depth of detail but what about in the focused area?
Zoomed Area
The below images are the two same images only zoomed in on a small part as shown above.
Zoomed in: Left: F32 Aperture & 1/5s Shutter. Right: F4 Aperture & 1/320 Shutter
The focus point is just below the big indentation in the middle. Despite the whole area being in focus in both shots, we can see that the F32 image is clearly sharper! Unless there’s something wrong with my lens (and it cost too much for there to be something wrong!), I think the conclusion needs to be: Unless you’re looking for a view with limited depth of field or are shooting moving objects, then a narrower aperture is better (the larger number the narrower right?). So make sure you bring that tripod for the longer shutter speeds! I will.
I could probably have read this in some magazine, but hey! Much more fun finding out yourself right?! Stay tuned for more Photolicious experimentation!
