Very nice set, could you give us a bit of a tutorial on how you do the cross polarisation in practice.
Can in be done at night? I gather it would be hard viewing through a filer at night especially in manually focusing.
When I have looked on the web for the film there seem to be many types some quiet expensive
Very nice set, could you give us a bit of a tutorial on how you do the cross polarisation in practice.
Can in be done at night? I gather it would be hard viewing through a filer at night especially in manually focusing.
When I have looked on the web for the film there seem to be many types some quiet expensive
It can be done at night - I have only a few shots I've done of it during the day, but that's mainly because I use the 90 and 180mm macros for daylight photography.
It's not that difficult looking through the viewfinder at night - especially if you have a light source on you that isn't polarised/can be easily turned to an angle that will pass through light. Least of the problems really, haha.
The Hoya filter link still works and is still the cheapest I can find, but the UK seller who was selling cheap off cuts of linear polarising film has gone / isn't findable anymore unfortunately. I can't vouch for anyone else selling it but I don't imagine it's fantastically different if you're buying cheap stuff - any of the cheap a4 sheets of it, replacement films for monitors or tablets should be largely similar. You could probably get away with a linear polarising filter over the lens also, but the Hoya Fusion series one was the cheapest one with good reviews in the right thread size at the time.
The circular polariser goes over the lens, with the mark on the filter for 100% light extinction placed somewhere easy to see/remember (like 12 oclock). Look through the camera EVF at the polarising film, and turn it til it looks as dark as can be through the lens. That's your maximum extinction point. Cut the film into something you can easily mount over your flash head maintaining that exact same orientation when it's fired at the subject - I use little bits of stick-on velcro tape on the two ends of the polarising film and flash heads, bending it around.
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couple of examples of mounting the flashes. It does not matter which way the flash is turned relative to the camera, or what shape the film is over the flash heads, the effect comes from the interaction of the polariser over the lens and flash heads together. If they're both allowing light in at minimum cut-out, you get a look similar to a bare bulb flash (maybe more like a gel with a weird colour filter that lets certain frequencies dominate), if they're both opposed to each other, all the lens filter will allow through is light that has already bounced once off another surface, rather than light directly from the flash head itself.
The effect can be turned depending on how much cut you want - here's one at 100% extinction
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say, if you really want something to look crunchy and sharp.
I haven't done it for a while because it's genuinely a pain to set up, but you can also do things like combine cross polarised light and regular diffused flash, for something with a distinct look:
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I can't vouch for anyone else selling it but I don't imagine it's fantastically different if you're buying cheap stuff - any of the cheap a4 sheets of it, replacement films for monitors or tablets should be largely similar. You could probably get away with a linear polarising filter over the lens also, but the Hoya Fusion series one was the cheapest one with good reviews in the right thread size at the time.
Thanks for the description & Pictures, very informative
When you mention "replacement films for monitors or tablets" I seem to remember these modern flat screen monitors have some sort of polarising film in the screen layers, and I have a couple of these lying around. Perhaps I should see what they have inside. but not sure how to identify which layer it, but I could see if it cuts out the lite as you explain in your post.
Anyway thanks again for the great explanation, I will be giving this a try
Thanks for the description & Pictures, very informative
When you mention "replacement films for monitors or tablets" I seem to remember these modern flat screen monitors have some sort of polarising film in the screen layers, and I have a couple of these lying around. Perhaps I should see what they have inside. but not sure how to identify which layer it, but I could see if it cuts out the lite as you explain in your post.
Anyway thanks again for the great explanation, I will be giving this a try
I believe it's the same kind of stuff but I think ones that are already in a monitor can be quite thin and fragile - the advantage of the off-cut stuff I was getting is that it's quite plastic-y and durable and tough, and can take being pulled and poked into twigs and stuff. Some of the repair videos I've seen of people doing repairs of the screens of monitors and phones look like the layer in those is quite flimsy (because it's meant to be behind plastic/glass/whatever) and might need some way to keep it out of contact with the world.
On my photo hike today, I came across a small area where approx 30 garter snakes were gathered. I'm guessing it's mating season for them. View attachment 879953View attachment 879954
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