In this section you will find only the best advice from photographers working at the very top of their game.
Our Masterclasses feature the work of UK masters of photography.
The Pro Zone features international professional photographers that are highly successful in their fields.
26.01.09
Use plastic for fantastic photographic effects
Words by Anna Stowe
Look around you, and I bet you can see numerous items made from a material we all take for granted – plastic. It comes in many colours and shapes yet most of the objects have been produced by one method – injection moulding. Molten plastic is injected under pressure into a mould, then cooled so it solidifies. The process is seldom perfect and results in weak points or residual stresses in the finished product. It’s thanks to these imperfections that a photographer’s fun begins.
The science gets quite complicated but basically the stresses in transparent plastic diffract white light into various parts of the spectrum, rather like a prism, only more randomly so. Polarizers work by blocking light coming in particular directions. If you sandwich certain clear plastics between two polarizers, one of which is in front of a light source, you will see a pyrotechnic display of psychedelic colours through the second polarizer, depending on how you rotate one in relation to the other.
Thankfully the set-up required to see and record the amazing patterns is simple. First you need a light source. I used a lightbox as that made it easy to arrange the objects on top or in front of it. Then you need a piece of polarizing film that you attach to the box with sticky tape. An A4 sheet almost covered my lightbox and allowed me to use fairly large objects and make complex arrangements of smaller ones.
Handle the polarizing film carefully as it scratches easily and any marks could spoil the final result – I spent hours cloning out all the scratches in Photoshop because I didn’t realise this in time! When it comes to choosing your objects and arranging them on the film you are limited only by your imagination – except that they must be made of clear plastic and some clear plastics work better than others, so experimentation is the key. Again, the less scratched the objects, the better the final result. I used picnic cutlery and ‘glasses’, but you could also try CD cases, tape cassettes, cling film, bubble wrap, drinks bottles and geometry sets.
Mount your camera on a tripod and fit a polarizing filter over the lens. I used a macro lens so I could go in close to produce more abstract images. Looking through the camera, rotate the polarizing filter on your lens and prepare to be blown away as a kaleidoscope of colours bursts into life! Shooting in Raw will give you the freedom to change colours in post-processing or experiment with your white-balance setting. If they are still not bright enough for you, boost the saturation in Photoshop.
KIT BAG
I use the Canon EOS-1Ds MkII but any SLR will do. As I really enjoy macro photography I have a Canon 100mm f/2.8 USM macro lens. A cheaper option is to use close-up lenses or extension tubes that fit onto your standard lens. A tripod is essential, as working close to 3D objects will require using small apertures to maximize depth-of-field, so shutter speeds will be too long for handholding. It’ll also allow you to fine-tune your composition.
Polarizing film can be ordered from edmundoptics.com. An 8.5x15in piece costs £23.40 plus postage.
- Average Article Rating 0 Stars
-
Your Rating
Login Required!
Sorry - You must be a registered user & logged in to rate this.
Login | Register
Back to Categories