Polarizing the flash on my camera

While discussing macro photography with a friend I told him of the

difficulty I had shooting a watch in a light tent. I could see the

lens reflected on the face of the watch.

He suggested I use a sheeting of some sort that covers the flash head

and polarizes the light, thereby eliminating and glare or "hotspots".

I have never heard of this stuff. Has anyone used it before? Is it

better than a conventional "light tent"?

Joe McDonald

It's polarizing gel material. Comes in a roll like any CC gel. Only it will polarize your light

source - the same way a PL filter that fits over your lens polarizes the light before it hits

the film/sensor. It's often used on lights when shooting artwork that can't be removed

from glass or where you have any kind of odd glare (interior shots with lots of glass

windows etc.)

If I remember correctly - technically it won't kill true reflections. It will kill glare and

lessen some hotspots.

A "light tent" is an altogether different animal. It's a small tent that has a hole in it for the

lens of your camera to fit through - it will give you very even light over very small objects

with no relfections of whats in the room around the item.. It's used quite a lot for jewellery

and watches.

You can get the polarizing gel material at any studio supply shop. Lee Filters I believe is

who makes it. You can probably mail order it - or buy or borrow a small bit from a pro in

your area. I'm in Hong Kong so where I get it wouldn't help you.

Good luck. Play around with it before you have to 'experiment' on a paying job though.

Joseph- The polarizer over the flash will NOT help you if you are shooting through a light tent. When the light from the flash hits the translucent material, the polarization gets randomized again. If you were shooting with bare bulbs, then the polarizer over the flash would help.

The only exception to this MIGHT be if you get a very large piece of polarizing material (Rosco used to make some this big, don't know if they still do) and put it on the INSIDE of the light tent, completely covering the inside of the tent. The reason this might NOT work is because to work to its maximum extent, a polarizer should cause the light waves to be polarized in only one direction, and for that it needs to be flat. Using it inside a cone, the polarizing material will allow the light to be polarized in many directions. It may help some, though. Also use a polarizer on the lens, and try both circular and linear there.

Putting a polarizer on the lens alone might help, also. A better choice is to use small softboxes and tilt or otherwise manipulate the subject until there are no unwanted reflections.

When one really needs to completely eliminate reflections, use direct lights (bare bulbs) with horizontally polarized filters on the lights and a vertically polarized filter on the lens. I have also seen product photographers cover the front of small softboxes with sheets of polarizing material, which worked very effectively to render soft light and greatly lessen the specular reflections. -Bill Cornett

I had to picture glasses and tried it out. I ended with a light tent + some small effect lights.

I believe polarized strobes without modelling lights are a true punishment.