What Are Birefringent Crystals
Shooting birefringent crystals has been on my bucket list since I saw it Petersen’s Photographic Digital Photography Guide Vol. 10 2011 magazine. I have kept that magazine all these years to remind me and inspire me to do it. Would like to have been able to link to the magazine online but was unable to locate it. It looks like Petersen’s Guides have been gobbled up by Shutterbug.com. Which is too bad the magazine was awesome and inspirational.
The article “Shooting Crystals All The Colors Of The Rainbow” in the magazine Photographic Digital Photography Guide Vol. 10 2011 defines Birefringence.
“Birefringence is the splitting of a light ray by a crystal into two components that are different velocities and are polarized at right angles to each other. What that means in terms of photography is that when light passes through the crystals, you can see rainbow colors in the unique and beautiful forms that make up the crystal“.
You can find more information on Birefringence on Wikipedia.
The Beautiful World Of Birefringent Crystals
How To Create & Photograph Birefringent Crystals
Materials required
- Epsom Salt
- Linear Polarizing sheet
- Circular Polarizer for 105mm lens
- Glass
Birefringent Crystal Creation
Dissolve the Epsom salt in water. Pour the mixture on the glass and let it dry for 2+ hours
Photograph The Crystals
Tape the linear polarizing sheet on the window and set the glass with the dried Epsom salt against it. Then shoot away.
There you have it. Simple as can be. Give it a try. I know I plan on doing this again in the future. Enjoy!
