Many of us are now accustomed to using circular polarizing filters on our lenses. They’re useful for enriching colors in landscapes – especially blue skies and foliage – and invaluable for cutting through reflections or atmospheric haze. But polarizers aren’t just for lenses; something magical happens if we polarize our light source, too. 

This is called cross-polarization, and the technique is simple. We need both the light entering our camera and the light emitting from our source to be polarized light. It’s a classic technique that has many uses, both practical and creative. Cross-polarization can result in photos with zero reflections and glare, which makes the technique useful for practical things such as dental photography – because eliminating the glare allows for clearer pictures of teeth.