Polarized Light Photography

November 7, 2018

This unit we worked on taking polarized light photos. What started off as a seemingly simple activity, turned into a far greater exploratory and artistic experience. What is polarized light? Polarized light is light that travels in a single plane. So, when a polarization filter is applied to a light source in front of a camera, certain waves are bent and can be seen as different colors and certain waves will be hidden because the light cannot pass through the same plane due to the filters orientation. This is represented by black marks and splotches, which are stress marks on the objects examined.

The process that was taken in making these works of art was actually overall really simple. The first step in taking these pictures was downloading the Flashlight HD app from the app store. What this app does is turn the screen on your phone to a temporary color of your choice, although most of the class used the generic white color. After the app was downloaded we picked different items varying in size, shape, and clarity. Some items included crumpled up transparent paper, Saran wrap, Orbeez, bubble wrap, etc. Then we would place the item of choice on top of the phone screen. Once we had the item in the place and position we wanted we would take and hover a piece of a polarization filter over the item, and if the item was clear enough and had enough stress the filter would distort the light and give the item a rainbow look to it. Once we had the filter in place we would take a picture using another persons phone.