The Effect of a Polarization Filter on Wet Rocks, Etc.
Spinning the Polarizer
wow, what a difference
Animatable (4 frames) — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view changing polarizer effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすと偏光フィルターの影響が分かります。

The reflections on the wet rocks and foliage during the visit to the Honen'in Temple (法然院) presented in my previous post made for some interesting possibilities with the polarizing filter.

Swiping the mouse side to side on the photo above shows the effect of different filter rotations.

I like the rocks better when the bright reflections, but that also leaves the reflections on the foliage in the background, leaving them relatively washed out compared to the richer colors seen when the polarizer is turned to block reflections. (More impactful examples of foliage-related reflections are shown in “Heading Out To Photograph The Fall Foliage? Don’t Forget The Polarizer Filter”.)

But all in all, I'll take the reflections on the rock.

This next example, a close-up of the rocks, is just freaky, as the different surface angles have their reflections attenuated at different stages of the filter rotation:

Freaky
Animatable (7 frames) — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view changing polarizer effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすと偏光フィルターの影響が分かります。

The next two examples of the same water basin show how well reflections are cut from the surface of the water, but like in the first shot, I want it both ways: I'd prefer to keep the reflections in the water, but cut the reflections from the moss, bamboo, and rock. Oh well.

Animatable (4 frames) — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view changing polarizer effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすと偏光フィルターの影響が分かります。
Animatable (5 frames) — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view changing polarizer effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすと偏光フィルターの影響が分かります。

I've been doing so many of these interactive comparisons lately (such as comparing various shutter speeds with flowing water and comparing apertures) that I decided to make a category for them on my blog, Interactive Photo-Effect Presentations.

Skimming through my 2,000+ blog posts for articles to include, I was surprised to find more than 20.


All 5 comments so far, oldest first...

Hi Jeffrey,

I enjoy your animatable photo posts – this one illustrates polarizer effects really well.

You could combine two or more images in photoshop with layer masks to get the reflections you want in different parts of the frame.

Great blog!
Ed

— comment by Ed Rosack on August 28th, 2013 at 10:33pm JST (10 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink

This was really neat, thank you for going through the effort of assembling and posting them. I’ve often heard about what circular polarizers are capable of, but don’t have one for myself to try it out. These “mouse sweep” comparison shots make it very apparent.

I agree that I would want certain parts of the photo to have the reflections, instead of changing the entire photo entirely. As Ed mentioned, Photoshop (or some other form of photo manipulation) is an option, but it’s too bad that there isn’t a more automated way to perform it. Do you think that HDR software would handle a set of three or four shots with the polarizer position changed between them? Perhaps one could automate the process of keeping certain reflections while knocking out others that way, at least in some form.

I don’t think you’d want to automate it, since it’s a subjective/artistic thing. Of course I could do it in Photoshop, but I’m just too lazy. If the photos were better I might consider it, but these aren’t that special. —Jeffrey

— comment by David K. on August 29th, 2013 at 2:38am JST (10 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink

Hi Jeffrey,

very nice post. A very illustrative way to show what we all “knew”.

Thanks
Thorsten

— comment by Thorsten on August 29th, 2013 at 5:37am JST (10 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink

You can file this in the suggestion box: I’m using IE 8 (behind a corporate firewall) which evidently doesn’t support your Animatables – the initial (“left-most”) image displays but does not advance with mouse movement. It would be nice, even in this handicapped environment, to be able to manually step through the animation, such as with a mouse-click or a button. If this is already possible then feel free to publicly flog me – but also add a more obvious hint.

Thanks and best regards.

— comment by Andy on August 30th, 2013 at 1:34am JST (10 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink

Great stuff, really graphical way to demonstrate a CPL. Thanks

— comment by Scotta on September 1st, 2013 at 10:06pm JST (10 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink
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