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Capture the Ethereal Beauty of Everyday Objects Using Polarized Light.

by Tool Using Animal on June 5, 2007

Table of Contents

Author: Tool Using Animal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Intro: Capture the Ethereal Beauty of Everyday Objects Using Polarized Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1: What you will need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 2: Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 3: Taking the pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

http://www.instructables.com/id/Capture-the-Ethereal-Beauty-of-Everyday-Objects-Us/
Author: Tool Using Animal

Author: Tool Using Animal

I'm a graduate of the University of Central Florida with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, I am currently working on my Master's. Otherwise, I enjoy
building things, designing the things I'm going to build, and fishing.

License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

Intro: Capture the Ethereal Beauty of Everyday Objects Using Polarized Light.
By using a pair of polarizing filters and a property of certain materials called birefringence we can photograph the hidden stresses in hard plastics. This instructable was
inspired by this article and a comment I read in another instructable, somewhere, about LCD monitors and polarization.

step 1: What you will need

A laptop or LCD monitor. LCD's have a built in polarizing filter, and will act as our light source.

A polarizing filter to mount onto our camera.

A tripod

and

A selection of hard, transparent plastic objects.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Capture-the-Ethereal-Beauty-of-Everyday-Objects-Us/
step 2: Procedure
In a darkened room. Turn on the laptop and create a white screen, I used clipboard on a Thinkpad 380 running win98, or you can create a white image in an editor and
view it full screen. Mount the camera on the tripod and point it at the laptop screen, zoom in until the screen fills the camera's field of vision. If you haven't already, fit the
polirizing filter onto the camera, slowly rotate the camera filter until the laptop screen goes black (you need to use the lcd on the camera, an optical viewfinder won't turn
black ;-)). When the screen appears black from the camera's perspective we've achieved "cross polarization". Now we can start with the pictures.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Capture-the-Ethereal-Beauty-of-Everyday-Objects-Us/
step 3: Taking the pictures
When we insert a hard plastic item into the field between the laptop and the camera, the birefringent property of the plastic causes the light's angle of polarization to
change, since our light is no longer "cross polarized" it becomes visible again to the camera. And since different wavelengths have different refractive indices the visible
light appears as a rainbow of colors. Exposures are on the order of 1/2 second so a stand should be used to hold the object.

Have Fun.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Capture-the-Ethereal-Beauty-of-Everyday-Objects-Us/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Capture-the-Ethereal-Beauty-of-Everyday-Objects-Us/
 Related Instructables

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panoramas by How to create a Polarized Filter a plain G-Shock
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Stereoscopic 3D PanoPlanet Glasses (video) Light by negative display
digital (Polar scooter76 by bfgreen
by ellis3d
photoframe by Panorama) by
madaeon panoplanet

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Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 94 comments

curly B. says: Nov 7, 2010. 1:26 AM REPLY

Really nice instuctable!... If you have an old calculator LCD you don't even need the camera filter, you can peel the polarizer filter of that LCD an put it on the
camera lens

michaelgohjs says: Oct 5, 2010. 11:05 PM REPLY

i remember seeing some patterns like that n clear plastic when i was much younger.. guess i know how to have a clear look and know what it is now

great instructable..5stars

odavidson says: Jun 18, 2010. 8:34 AM REPLY

This looks great :D I got a great affect with cellophane wrapping. I didn't have a polarising filter so i used one of the lens from 3D cinema glasses, and it
works great :D

Goodhart says: Aug 31, 2009. 7:34 PM REPLY

This doesn't work for JUST clear plastics, I remember my first Polaroid sunglasses and the effect of looking through automobile windows, etc. There is whole
world of clear stuff to photograph :-)

thecheatscalc says: May 20, 2010. 2:46 PM REPLY

I remember that too, when I realized "hey those splotches change when I rotate my head... are these windows polarized?"

yoyology says: May 19, 2010. 7:44 AM REPLY

This is gorgeous! Thank you for posting it.

ghost_guard says: May 9, 2010. 7:44 AM REPLY

I always find it incredible the wit people will employ to capture the true beauty of things. You've found a way to do this that's easy enough for everyone take
advantage!

When did you realize that plastic in between two polarizing filters would achieve this effect? Learned or experimented? Either way, brilliant. Just brilliant.

howangcturtle says: Dec 15, 2009. 10:38 AM REPLY

Too bad you can't take pictures of larger things, well unless you have a giant screen...... would a TV work you think?

xenor says: Apr 22, 2010. 11:24 PM REPLY

if you can get a sheet of polarized plastic, you can set it in front of a light box, and use a second sheet in front of it. Just put the object you wish to view in
between. My favorite is a clear disposable cup. You can see the stresses caused by the injection process. Also, try bending the objects and observe the
stresses changing. Good for visualizing stress points in parts .

SpeedStrikerXLR says: Jan 31, 2010. 10:02 AM REPLY

awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Capture-the-Ethereal-Beauty-of-Everyday-Objects-Us/
 kNeXFreek says: Jan 27, 2010. 4:32 PM REPLY
cool!!!

ItsTheHobbs says: Dec 23, 2009. 12:01 PM REPLY

I see things like that through my sun glasses! It's really cool.

Goodhart says: Oct 19, 2009. 12:11 PM REPLY

Ok, here are my first real attempts, not so good, but better than my others that had an extra filter on it ;-) The first one became blurry because I bumped the
tripod....

Goodhart says: Oct 19, 2009. 12:15 PM REPLY

Something that is hard to see in these since they've been downsized, on the second one it is more apparent however, although the stresses did not show
up as colors in the upper portion of the bottle, it did show up as concentric (but not uniform) circular lines.

Goodhart says: Oct 9, 2009. 12:48 PM REPLY

I purchased a pair of small "polarized'' filters and used a bottle cap (plastic) and a large plastic washer of sorts, to create my own little camera filter, that can
be adjusted.

I am sure I followed all the directions above fairly closely, but the pictures below are all I am getting. Is this, by chance, because the filters are not only
polarized, but also tinted?

BTW: the only thing that is really visible is the edge of my home made filter except in the first photo, where a faint outline of the top of a plastic water bottle
can be barely made out).

Goodhart says: Oct 11, 2009. 1:58 PM REPLY

Any suggestions?

Tool Using Animal says: Oct 11, 2009. 4:55 PM REPLY

Sorry,are you saying both the filters are in the bottle cap??

Goodhart says: Oct 11, 2009. 5:09 PM REPLY

The cap is a water bottle cap, and there is a space of about 3/4 of an inch between the filters, one is on a plastic ring that I have snapped onto
the end of the cap, and the other filter is on the other end of the cap.

Tool Using Animal says: Oct 11, 2009. 5:21 PM REPLY

Oh, there's your problem, the item to be imaged has to be between the filters. Another consideration is some polarized filters only work in one
direction because some contain a 1/4 wave retarder (it let's them work with digital cameras).

http://www.instructables.com/id/Capture-the-Ethereal-Beauty-of-Everyday-Objects-Us/
 Goodhart says: Oct 11, 2009. 5:26 PM REPLY
You mean you polarized filters are not mounted on the camera?

Tool Using Animal says: Oct 11, 2009. 5:32 PM REPLY

One is, the other is the polarized screen on the laptop

Goodhart says: Oct 11, 2009. 5:49 PM REPLY

OH, bloody h 3 double match sticks...... Here I made the filter out of two polarized lenses......no wonder it didn't work......I will
have to find some time to see if I can correct that and try again......thanks for getting my head on straight again :-)

quinn says: Jun 15, 2007. 2:38 PM REPLY

Lovely stuff. I haven't thought about doing this since high school physics class when we were analyzing stresses, but I recall being fascinated by the
aesthetics to the point of forgetting to record the results. Thank God I went into art and not engineering. If anyone has seen a 3-d movie lately, several seem
to be using polarized (one eye vertical, one eye horizontal) glasses which can be fun for this sort of stuff if you pop out the lenses.

xilefakamot says: Oct 7, 2009. 10:29 AM REPLY

That's how I found this out - I tried watching TV through 3D movie glasses and found that one eye blocked out the screen

BlueFusion says: Jun 15, 2007. 6:29 PM REPLY

Only the serious movies / cinemas use polarization instead of the red/blue 3d effect. I haven't seen it anywhere other than iMax cinemas. I think it's
because it's so much more expensive to produce than the red/blue 3d. If anyone has seen it in lotsa other places, go ahead and prove me wrong.

electric_destruction says: Aug 8, 2009. 1:33 PM REPLY

I havent seen it in lots of other places, but i was just at the Franklin Institute in Philly, and and thier imax theater uses the polarizing type.

Ceiling cat says: Jul 7, 2009. 12:43 PM REPLY

I got mine at Up at our normal town theatre. It's a pretty big theatre, though.

waterppk says: Mar 24, 2008. 7:08 PM REPLY

They use polarized glasses on the 4D adventure at Noah's Ark waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells. It's amazing how much better it is than the simple
red/blue glasses - it really aids in making the effects realistic.

quinn says: Jun 15, 2007. 6:01 PM REPLY

I got mine at Nightmare before Christmas 3-D last fall. Not at the IMAX.

BlueFusion says: Jun 15, 2007. 6:15 PM REPLY

lol i typed IMAX like iPod... force of habit I see. well it may be different in USA, but here in gayass Australia (in my experience) they're not
common. BTW I know ur American 'cos u said 'fall' instead of autumn like the rest of the planet

max_brasil says: Jun 15, 2007. 7:31 PM REPLY

The rest of the planet?'" Let's not forget the english speaking population is only part of the world. (Just had to say that...)

Ro]x[as says: Sep 15, 2009. 4:54 PM REPLY

Heh, this is too much fun. I spent the better part of an afternoon experimenting. I found that glucose syrup in the bottom of that volumetric flask changes
through a variety of colours depending on polarization axis.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Capture-the-Ethereal-Beauty-of-Everyday-Objects-Us/
 ianskiin says: Aug 26, 2009. 7:45 AM REPLY
I thought that this was very cool, and tried it out on my own. Here are a few pictures (taken with phone, camera battery was dead). i couldn't fit a filter to the
phone, so i just held up a pair of polarized ray bans in front of the camera. i experimented with the white background, and decided that i could make just the
polarization appear if it was white behind the plastic, and it wouldn't appear if it was behind a black background, and of course felt obliged to write
"instructables" on it. the second used the negative effect of the camera, and the third is showing how the sunglasses filter the light

wizard tech says: Aug 25, 2009. 7:19 AM REPLY

man,i think that's awsome.very cool dude

louie_gee_gee says: Aug 19, 2009. 8:17 PM REPLY

That is so cool!!! :-) Would it also work on glass?

szechuan53 says: Aug 12, 2009. 5:40 PM REPLY

coolio

t43m4n says: Jun 15, 2007. 10:07 PM REPLY

Does this work with DSLR cameras? I have to use the viewfinder :/

Zinventor says: Aug 8, 2009. 7:11 PM REPLY

On a DSLR, the viewfinder sees through the lens, so it will work. the reason the viewfinder doesn't work on a point and shoot is that it doesn't see
through the lens, but through a small hole above it, bypassing the polarizing filter.

t43m4n says: Jun 16, 2007. 6:16 AM REPLY

how do i know that the lcd screen turned black? The guide said it was only possible if viewed through the lcd of the camera

dectus says: Jun 16, 2007. 7:56 AM REPLY

you have to rotate the polarizer ! (circular)

dectus says: Jun 16, 2007. 12:38 AM REPLY

shure it works with DSLR, I used my 20D to make those:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8938408@N05/553797611/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8938408@N05/553797499/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8938408@N05/553797461/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Capture-the-Ethereal-Beauty-of-Everyday-Objects-Us/
 fallenspirit123 says: Jul 31, 2009. 5:57 PM REPLY
thats really cool

luvit says: Jul 3, 2009. 4:47 PM REPLY

can i buy plastic forks on ebay? the clear kind. what size?

Tool Using Animal says: Jul 3, 2009. 5:06 PM REPLY

Try the local supermarket, picnic supplies.

luvit says: Jul 3, 2009. 5:55 PM REPLY

but i only need one.

Dr. Steel says: Jul 24, 2009. 3:00 AM REPLY

Steal one out of the box. No one cares for one fork. Just don't let them see you.

msw100 says: Jul 15, 2009. 11:43 AM REPLY

buy a take away then

tevers94 says: Jul 5, 2009. 12:33 PM REPLY

lol

xerxesx20 says: Jul 15, 2009. 7:38 PM REPLY

Forkin' hell, that fork looks sublime. Nice instructable, I have witnessed this when wearing my fully polarised (they are designed for fishing, so one can see
through the top reflection) sunglasses. An alternative method is to get a polariser sun-reflecting sheet for window glass, (yes you can buy it somewhere) and
make up a "daylight" (fake but close to) light box, IF you wanted to do lots of photo's of just such a thing. I recall being on a coach and saw that the smooth
curved glass at the top of the bus (on the roof edge angle) was displaying the stresses it was under, due to a polarising layer on the outside of the glass. I
should have liked to see a bit of glass like that break, watching the stresses change in slowmo. I have a polariser for my all of my D-SLR's as well, i'll have a
bash at some photographs.

sole says: Jun 15, 2007. 4:03 PM REPLY

I want all my forks to be like that!!

view all 94 comments

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